Tulfo

Tulfo seeks action on PTV4 workers’ delayed salary hike

October 11, 2022 Camille P. Balagtas 458 views

SENATOR Raffy Tulfo rattled the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) and the leadership of state-owned People’s Television Network (PTV4) for its “failure to act” on the employees’ request for a salary increase in the past 15 years.

During the Senate Finance Committee’s hearing for the proposed 2023 budget of the OPS and its attached agencies last Oct. 10, Tulfo stated that PTV-4’s management also failed to regularize their contract-of-service employees who have been with the network for more than a decade.

“Mahirap po ang trabaho ng mga reporters ng PTV4. Sila po ang nasa frontline para pa-gwapuhin ang imahe ng administrasyon. Ginagawa din po nila ang lahat to properly disseminate news and information,” he said.

Tulfo, who worked as a PTV4 reporter and eventually became one of its anchors, said the below-industry-standard salaries and lack of job security of media practitioners in the network have not improved since he left a long time ago.

Admitting the lack of salary increase among employees of PTV4 for the past 15 years, OPS-Broadcast Media Services Usec. Ina Reformina underscored the need for a new organizational structure approved by the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCGs) to secure workers’ salary increases.

When asked by Tulfo to give a specific timeline for solving contractualization and salary problem of PTV4 employees, Head Executive Assistant Raymund Sanchez said they are finalizing the complete staff work and will hopefully fix the problem in two years.

Tulfo also asked the OPS and PTV4 management to urgently fix the “decaying” facilities of PTV4, as he showed a video compilation of the network’s office, which was sent to him by the network’s staff.

The video showed the renovated Studio C of PTV4, which was not utilized for its purpose because it became like a warehouse with different items, as well as chairs in offices that were tied up to cabinets to ensure that they can sit while working because office furniture was not enough.

It also showed the parking area overcrowded with cars; the ineffective waterproofing in the props office, which is causing leaks in the hallway and the roof; and unsanitary and unserviceable comfort rooms with bowls that are tied up.

As a then-rookie reporter who was not a regular employee, Tulfo recalled how he could not complain to PTV4 management about all these issues because he could easily get “fired” from work.

Tulfo maintained that aside from alleged corruption, PTV4 has failed to improve through the years because the people that were assigned to manage it have “no heart and passion” for the job and would only care about the paycheck.

“Kung naglagay sana kayo ng tao na talagang may karanasan sa pagma-manage ng TV network, at mayroon talagang puso at dedikasyon sa kanyang trabaho, e matagal na po sanang na-improve ang PTV4,” he said.

To get a clearer view of the problems and hear the employees’ pleas firsthand, Tulfo then advised OPS OIC (Officer-in-Charge) Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil to visit the office of the PTV 4 and talk to its employees, to which Garafil agreed to do.

Tulfo said the problems surrounding PTV4 and its employees are very personal to him because he started his broadcasting career in the network.