ABS-CBN denies preferential pension payments for 68 retired executives
ABS-CBN Corp. issued a statement denying allegations of preferential treatment for 68 executives in the payment of retirement benefits drawn from the company’s pension fund.
“Contrary to what the article claims, the largest decline in ABS-CBN’s pension fund was due to payouts to close to 6,000 employees who were retrenched as a result of the franchise loss. This is proof of ABS-CBN’s commitment to fully meet all its obligations to its employees,” the firm said.
The firm said the disbursement to the 68 has been explained to the full ABS-CBN board of directors and its compensation committee.
It noted that most of these individuals are retirees who have received only partial or no retirement benefits, despite already retiring.
“They have agreed to voluntarily wait until ABS-CBN’s financial position improves before receiving full payment. They did not get preferential treatment. In fact, they deferred receipt of payment so that the thousands of employees who were separated from the company received their separation pay in full,” ABS-CBN said.
The remaining unpaid retirement obligation issue was raised with the ABS-CBN board late last November, but the firm denied allegations that a ₱2-billion capital infusion would be used to pay retirement benefits, saying this has been “refuted by all the board of directors members except one.”
“From ABS-CBN’s perspective, we acknowledge that, following the loss of our franchise in 2020, we have experienced challenging financial years but have shown steady, consistent improvement. Our board of directors and the rest of the Lopez family have commended the company’s progress and emphasized its continued importance to the country,” the company said.
It said records show that one director has proposed shutting down ABS-CBN without discussing how it would meet its obligations to its people, but the majority of directors strongly argued for continued financial support for ABS-CBN rather than liquidation, to address the welfare of the company’s employees and retirees, as well as its other stakeholders.