Team DailyPedia
The rivalry between the Philippines’ biggest stations channels is slowly becoming a victory for ABS-CBN with ratings soaring high for its shows and GMA Network losing 40% of its income in 2014. And just recently, GMA Network has let go of some of its regional employees.
In November last year, news about the letting go of GMA “talents” sparked a controversy specially on social media. These “talents” were employees who worked for many years for the network but never got tenured. Some of them have actually been working for about ten years or even more, but never received any mandatory benefits.
Last April 24, 2015, a former regional field reporter from GMA Network posted a status on Facebook about regular employees that were let go by the network on short notice. They were let go supposedly because the company was losing profit and that there were redundancy in posts. They were informed on the spot that the company would be letting them go and they no longer needed to report to work. (The termination contract they were asked to sign stated that the termination of employment will be effective on May 30, 2015, approximately one month after they were given verbal notice).
According to the post, the regular employees were given a cheque for their separation pay and were made to sign the release papers in the presence of a lawyer. The said papers were also immediately notarized after they signed. In addition, all morning shows were also cancelled and some regional network offices were closed.
In a report from MindaNews, those regional offices closed on Friday were GMA Network’s regional offices in Cagayan de Oro City, Bacolod City, Naga City, and Ilocos. The network also shut down all morning shows of its regional offices in Cebu and Davao cities.
There are actually some issues regarding this “immediate notice of separation”. According to our source, there has been a lot of buzz that the company would be letting them go because of the losses, but as to when, they never knew until last April 24, 2015. Also, the employees cannot really escalate this case to DOLE since it cannot be considered immediate since the contract states that it is effective May 30, 2015 (that’s more than a month after the notification).
We still have no exact figures yet as to how much the employees received, but they say that it was actually a bit generous. But the question is, what would be next for these employees that were let go? (UPDATE: Employees were reportedly offered one month salary for every year of service as their separation pay.)
Now, what does GMA have to say about this?
Fashion Pulis got a statement from the network regarding this massive retrenchment:
GMA Network is in the process of undertaking a strategic streamlining of programs and manpower in its provincial stations to ensure business competitiveness.
This has resulted in the reduction of manpower and targets more efficient operations. Severance packages are offered by GMA to all affected personnel.
GMA Network greatly appreciates the contributions rendered by our Kapuso in the regions and we wish them all the best as they seek new opportunities outside the Network.
Is it just a temporary phase for GMA or will there be even more cuts? Employees will no doubt be waiting and watching anxiously for any developments in the meantime.
Paano kami makakasiguradong hindi puro haka haka at paninira lamang yan sa GMA station? May proofs ba kayo ng statements? Like screenshot nung facebook status? Thank you!
To Ems: Try mo kasing magbasa ng news hindi yong puro FB status lang 🙁
it’s 1 month salary x number of years.
Magaganda ang palabas sa gma7,korean, and animes(basta yung mga hindi nila gawa)Puro kasi pagmamayabang ng ratings. Luge nmn na pla.
Pag nayayabang ng ratings at sinasabing no.1 sila, mag duda ka na. Paluge na yan. Strategy baka sakali maka-hatak pa ng mga manonood. Sa radio nga lahat sila inangkin na ang no.1 spot (except kay YES na humble pa sa no.2).
Baka naubos pera nila sa talent fee n marian rivera puro naman flop movies tapos hindi pa nagrerate mga teleserye.. ayan na kasi pekeng prime time queen.. hindi naman money maker at malaki lang gasto sa kababayad sa press people para lang may maisulat na maganda..ayan napala tuloy.
A bit shocked but that’s how business is. This already happened before when ABS-CBN was badly beaten by GMA in the mid-2000s and a lot of terminated ABS-CBN Internal Job Market employees stayed outside the Main Building for months as a form of protest. Even some of its reporters were still on contractual (not talent) status and left when they were offered regularization but with a monthly pay smaller than what they earned as contractuals. (Case in point: Weng Hidalgo)
More recently, TV5 already offered early retirement packages to its employees as part of its streamlining efforts.
So GMA already planned this in late 2014, at the time when all of its regional newscasts were rebranded as one 24 Oras. Probably the reason why they never shot glossy Opening Billboards for 24 Oras Regional (their predecessors had very visually appealing OBB’s).
Now, because of GMA Bloody Friday, how can this help the network beat a more established ABS-CBN Regional Network Group, a more well-manned and more well-equipped group? How will this impact its newsgathering capabilities, especially now that the 2016 elections is just around the corner? Kakaunti na nga lang ang regional originating stations nila tapos eto pa ang mangyayari.
I think these employees should have stayed. What GMA Regional TV should have done to save money is to scrap all nationwide mall shows and caravans featuring the starlets of the network. That is a much better cost-cutting measure.
Naalala ko ito. This was the Mulawin and Engcantadia time kung saan nauuso and fantaserye. Well, hindi nagtagal ang era ng fantaserye dito sa pinas. Kasi naman, mahal at pangit ang output (hand to mouth kasi at kulang sa manpower). Definitely I agree with you regarding sa caravan and mall show thing. And maybe palitan nila ang buong marketing team nila at isama mo na ang mga writers. Tigilan na rin nila ang pag papadala ng mga spy sa ibang network (kung taga network ka, you know what I mean) para hindi na rin sila nilalapitan ni digital karma…
siguro po ay kailangan ng baguhin ang mga palabas sa atin,sana ay yoong may -aral na mapupulot ang mga nanonood,mula po kasi sa pagkabata ko ay puro patalastas,pelikulang halos crime,balitang adulterated,show na parang ang nakikinabang ay ang participants na ang tutoo ay ang host ang yumayaman,pakunwaring pagtulong sa mga taong bayan,sana…. po ay programang pinakikinabangan ng mga mamamayan na tunay na paglilingkod sa ating bayan.
Rappler has more collected information from this matter. Some points from their article:
– GMA Bacolod, Ilocos, Cagayan de Oro, and Naga has been allegedly reduced to relay stations, sacking all employees but those engineers who are needed to operate the stations
– Layoffs also reportedly occur in GMA Cebu, Davao, and Iloilo
– The number of employees laid off in that round are estimated to be in the few hundreds (may vary from report to report)
– Local shows (that are not 24 Oras) cancelled in the process include “Buena Mano” from Cebu, “Una Ka Bai” from Davao, and “Isyu Subong Negrese” from Bacolod
– Retrenched personnel from GMA Cebu and other Cebuano journalists urged to change their social media profile pictures to pure black
Sanabumaksak na ng tuluyan ang gma at si goson.
To Em: its true Em. Someone closes to me, is one of those employee being terminated. She was a reporter for 7 yrs in the network.
I wouldn’t blame this on the economy(the Philippine economy is on the good side), nor to the increasing cost of operations, i would blame this on audience loss, ang GMA naman kasi eh, yung mga shows nila parang pa-ulit2x lang ang storya at mga artista, nung nagsimula akong magtrabaho dito sa Manila, napilitan akong manood ng GMA ng dahil sa mga bus na walang DVD player, akala ko yung pinapalabas na teleserye ni jennylyn mercado ganun parin nung last year nung nagrereview ako na pinapanood ko sa mga kainan, kasi yung role niya parang baliw na may inaangking anak o ano, sa huli ko nalg nalaman na bago na pala yun.
marunong naman siguro mag-acting ang mga artista, yung sa tingin kong may kasalanan ay yung mga writers ng screenplay, dialogue, filmography, script, storytelling, at yung directing…ang pangit, kahit mga ‘beterang actor’ ang mga artista, parang nanonood lang ako ng school play sa classroom, tapos ang unrealistic at unnatural ang mga linya, character reactions at direction ng storya, pag may nagsasalita na bida o kontrabida, yung mga side characters nasa gilid at humihinto sa kanilang ginagawa para makinig sa usapan ng bida, tapos naka-spread at naka-blocking ang mga charaters na halatang may camera sa harap nila at kelangan lahat sila nakikita ang mukha, ang corny tingnan,
tapos yung story nag-rerevolve at pa-ulit2x sa may nawawalang anak, may nag-aagawan ng anak, may adoptiba o nag-palit ng anak, may kayamanan na pinag-aagawan, may unnatural na di ma-explain na galit ang isa’t-isa, may matinding sakit o aksidente na nangyari at nagka-watak2x yung pamilya
yung costume design naman ang unrealistic, wala pa akong nakitang tao na kahit bilyonaryo eeh pag-nasa bahay lang naman eh nag-susuot ng cocktail dress, mamahaling alahas, naka-heels, make-up at kung ano pa, tapos sa mga teleserye ng GMA, parang walang middle-income bracket sa pilipinas, kung hindi sobrang yaman ng pamilya eh sobrang hirap naman na parang yung 90% ng populasyon ng pilipinas eh nasa-squatters
ayusin naman sana ng GMA ito, they badly need the overhaul, let younger professionals in on the production of teleseryes, they have fresh ideas that breaks apart from the formulaic and predictable minds of those that have been holding the positions for decades