HOUSE OKAYS MEDIA WORKERS’ WELFARE BILL

THE House of Representatives has given its final nod to the proposed Media Workers’ Welfare Act.

House Bill 454 was passed on third and final reading on Monday, with over 250 lawmakers voting in the affirmative. There was no abstention.

The bill provides that media workers “required to physically report for work in dangerous areas” like “strife-torn or embattled areas, distressed or isolated stations, disease-infested areas or “places under a state of calamity or emergency which expose them to great danger, contagion, radiation, volcanic activity or eruption, occupational risks or perils to life as determined by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) shall be given a hazard pay in the minimum amount of P500 per day.”

Under the bill, the hazard pay’s base amount “may be increased as decided upon by the News Media Tripartite Council” which the DoLE shall create.

The bill mandates employers to provide basic safety gear and equipment to media workers covering events in dangerous places.

Section 9 of the bill states that employers shall provide a death benefit of P200,000 for each media worker who dies in the line of duty; disability benefit of up to P200,000 for each media worker who shall suffer total or partial disability “arising from any injury sustained in the line of duty;” and medical insurance benefit of up to P100,000 for each media worker.