BELOW is a statement of the NPC appealing to the Senate to finally act on SB 1820, or the Media Workers Welfare Act (MWWA) that, unfortunately, continues to gather dust and cobwebs in the chamber.

With fingers crossed, yours truly, as NPC president, hopes the oversight has nothing to do with the fact that members of the press are often taken for granted by the powers-that-be.

The National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) has appealed to the Philippine Senate to act on the long pending proposal granting security of tenure and other benefits due to the members of the press.

“It has been several months now since the House version of the Media Workers’ Welfare Act has been forwarded to the Senate for action. Members of the press have made their sentiment of dismay coursed thru the NPC be known that up to now, the proposal remains languishing at the Senate Committee on Labor headed by Sen. Joel Villanueva,” said NPC President Paul M. Gutierrez in a statement the NPC released today, October 7, 2021.

“Indeed, we are disappointed that while the Senate can allocate as much time as it wants to investigate perceived corruption in the executive branch actively participated by most of our senators, the single bill addressing the decades-old problems afflicting the media sector like security of tenure and granting of benefits provided for by law continues to gather cobwebs in the chamber,” Gutierrez added.

The neglect by Villanueva’s committee, he added, is more glaring considering that no less than Senate President Vicente Sotto III authored the Senate version of the bill under Senate Bill 1820 that Sotto filed more than one year ago, on September 9, 2020.

Thru the effort of ACT-CIS partylist representative and former broadcast journalist, Rep. Niña Taduran, the MWWA, under HB 2476, was unanimously passed by Congress last January 18, 2021. It has not moved since being transmitted to the Senate, especially in the Labor Committee chaired by Villanueva.

“Due to the critical role that members of the press played, especially during this period of the pandemic where many in our rank not only contracted COVID-19 but also died from it in the performance of their duty as journalists, the least that our lawmakers can do is to be also considerate by passing a measure that is long overdue,” Gutierrez said.

“We are therefore again appealing to the sense of fairness of our senators for the expeditious deliberation and passage of the media workers welfare bill,” the NPC official added.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Paul M. Gutierrez