Charles Teves
ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Katigbak said on Tuesday during a hearing of the Senate committee on public services that the network will start retrenching employees by August if a provisional franchise is not granted.
The employees were also told that their jobs will be secured for at least three months.
“Your honor, when we’re taken off the air on May 5th, we made our commitment to our employees given the difficult economic situation following COVID-19, we made a commitment to them that we would not take away any jobs for three months,” Katigbak said.
But unfortunately the management “cannot make that commitment open-ended” due to financial constraints.
“We continue to lose a substantial amount of money every month your honor, and I’m afraid that if we can’t get back on air soon, by August we may already have to consider beginning a retrenchment process your honor,” he said.
Katigbak added that thousands of workers were still getting paid despite the shutdown.
“And we felt it would be very, very painful to put our employees out on the street without them having an idea as to how they could continue earning a living and continue to feed their families.”
ABS-CBN will soon be declaring bankruptcy if radio and television broadcasts are not resumed according to analysts.
The media giant also has over P21 billion in long-term debt. In addition, ABS-CBN is losing P30 to P35 million a day because of the shutdown.
Supporters weren’t too happy to hear the news.
My heart bleeds. Praying for all our employees. Praying for a miracle. https://t.co/GfEBiXUrmr
— Karen Davila (@iamkarendavila) May 19, 2020
Nemo speaks for all the employees of ABSCBN. Nakakaiyak. My heart is breaking.
— Karen Davila (@iamkarendavila) May 19, 2020
Regardless of how this #ABSCBNfranchise saga will end, my only consolation is the promise of the owners NEVER TO SELL the network.
You may succeed in shutting us down but you won't be able to control us. Whoever you are.#LabanKapamilya
— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) May 19, 2020
Good afternoon sa lahat! Katatapos lang ng Senate hearing on ABS franchise. Nalulungkot ako dahil habang tumatagal na wala kami sa free tv at radyo, marami sa aking katrabaho ang maaring mawalan ng kabuhayan. Pero patuloy akong umaasa! #KapamilyaForever#LabanKapamilya pic.twitter.com/q8BwJG2Ojv
— Direk Lauren (@direklauren) May 19, 2020
On the brighter side, TV Patrol is back and was able to get footage of health care workers telling the public that they will continue to fight for the Filipino people.
