A LAWMAKER has expressed hope that the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) would be able to put up this year a tripartite council meant to guarantee all workers in the film and TV-radio entertainment industries a safe environment in their workplace, including commensurate compensation and regulated work hours for their unconventional job schedules.

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte said the DoLE’s creation of a Film, Television and Radio Entertainment Industry Tripartite Council would happen once the Senate passes its counterpart version to a proposed legislation—the consolidated House Bill (HB) 1270—that was recently passed on third and final reading by a 240-0 vote in the bigger chamber.

A lead author of HB 1270, Villafuerte said this Council is envisioned to help oversee the implementation of the House-passed “Eddie Garcia Act,” which seeks full job protection for all workers in these three sectors, including independent contractors who are hired to do production work and other services like distribution and exhibition of content.

“Such labor-related protection during their work hours and adequate or commensurate compensation for their services are required by the House-passed bill for all of the work hours of these regular and contractual workers, more so when their jobs involve out-of-town shoots and/or lock-in production requiring them to stay within sets or location sites for 24 hours straight or even for several days or months,” Villafuerte, National Unity Party (NUP) president, said.

This bill was named after multi-awarded actor-director Eddie Garcia, who died at a Makati City hospital in June 2019, following an accident that was traced to an alleged negligence on safety protocols in Manila where a new TV series featuring him was being shot on location.

In the past Congress, Villafuerte had filed House Resolution (HR) 195 urging the House committee on labor and employment to probe the occupational health and safety of workers in the entertainment industry, in light of Garcia’s death while on location shooting.

The consolidated bill fixes normal work hours at 8 hours a day, which can be extended to a maximum of 12 hours, served intermittently or continuously, exclusive of meal periods.

This bill states that in no case shall the total number of work hours be more than 60 hours in a week, with exceptions thereto to be determined by the Tripartite Council.

Villafuerte said the Tripartite Council shall serve as a link among employers or principals, workers or independent contractors, cinematographers, artists, directors, assistant directors, composers and writers, production designers, animators, talent managers, videographers, photographers, digital radio technology experts, television and radio entertainment, radio drama casts, digital creators, make-up artists, professional speakers, stunt persons, camera men, background performers, and non-government organizations concerned with labor issues.

Tis Council shall also provide the film, television and radio entertainment industries, he said, with a platform for the employers or principals and workers or independent contractors to represent their respective groups in the crafting of policy decisions that will affect them and the industry as a whole, and serve as an avenue to express their aspirations, present their programs or bridge gaps in cases of conflict among them, subject to the accreditation of the DOLE.

These employees shall be covered by the Social Security System (SSS), the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) upon employment, and their monthly contributions shall be jointly shared by the employee and the employer, when applicable, in accordance with existing rules and regulations.

This bill unanimously passed by the House is a consolidated version of six similar measures led by HB 1270 that was endorsed for plenary approval by the House committee on labor and employment, chaired by Rizal Rep. Juan Fidel Felipe Nograles, before the Dec. 17-Jan. 22 yearend break of the 19th Congress.

Villafuerte introduced his version of the bill last year with three fellow Camarines legislators—Reps. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata, and the Bicol Saro Party-list.