The House of Representatives on Monday passed on third and final reading a bill extending to members of the Fourth Estate full protection and equal benefits provided by the law to other workers.
With 217 affirmative and zero negative votes, the Lower House approved House Bill 8140 or the Media Workers Welfare Act.
Originally proposed by ACT-CIS Partylist Reps. Nina Taduran, Eric Go Yap and Jocelyn Tulfo, HB 8140 counted over 40 co-authors when finally passed by the Lower Chamber.
Authors credited 1PACMAN Partylist Rep. Enrico Pineda, chairman of the House Committee on Labor, for successfully steering the passage of the measure.
“Media workers deserve this. They have been risking life and limb just to give us the news in the most objective, fair and accurate way they can,” Pineda stated.
He said the bill will guarantee that media workers will receive at the minimum, wages, allowances and benefits similarly provided by law to other workers.
On the other hand, Taduran, who started as a broadcast journalist, aired the belief that passage of the bill will “motivate and encourage media workers” to do their best in seeking the truth and reporting accurate and credible information to the public.
“Empowering and protecting the members of the Fourth Estate will greatly improve the delivery of truth and information,” said Taduran in the explanatory notes of the bill.
She aired the belief that the bill will be a game changer in the continued professionalization of the media industry.
Except for the creation of the Commission on Press Freedom and Media Security, all provisions of the HB 2476 were retained in the approved bill.
The provisions of the measure will apply to all media workers in the private sector.
It guarantees security of tenure for workers who have completed the probationary work period of six months of continuous work. This provision is contained in the Labor Code but does not apply to workers in the mass media.
The bill will extend to journalists, news photographers and cameramen and other workers in the media industry, the same financial and other benefits guaranteed by the Labor Code to all other workers.
Aside from the usual social welfare benefits, media workers may be afforded additional insurance coverage by their employers.
The bill will enjoin the Department of Labor and Employment to create the News Media Tripartite Council which will provide a platform for media workers and employers to agree upon mutually beneficial policies in work.
Mandatory additional insurance benefits will also be provided media workers to cover for death or disability benefits amounting to P200,000 for workers who perish in the line of duty and medical insurance worth at least P100,000.
Grant of a minimum P500 daily hazard pay will also become mandatory for media workers required to physically cover areas that could place them in danger.