(UPDATE) AFTER 22 years and 28 management teams, 145 employees of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. (IBC-13) finally received their retirement pay from the state-run media corporation, Malacañang said Saturday.
Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said it was only in the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that the much-awaited retirement pay was released to the IBC workers.
"At least 25 of the retirees have passed away before they could enjoy the fruits of their lives' work. It took 22 years and 28 management teams before the payment was given under the Marcos administration," Garafil said.
IBC-13, along with government-owned media companies — Peoples Television Network and the Presidential Broadcast Service-Bureau of Broadcast Services — form the media arm of the Presidential Communication Office (PCO) led by Garafil.
In her speech during the awarding ceremony on Friday, Garafil said settling the claims of the IBC retirees was one of the marching orders of President Marcos.
"The President gave the instruction to help resolve their claims, as addressing the welfare of media workers is one of the cornerstones of his administration and of the PCO," Garafil said.
"So it is a great honor for me to be able to be part of this much-awaited and much-deserved awarding of benefits to our colleagues in the media," she added.
For his part, IBC-13 President and Chief Executive Officer Jimmie Policarpio said the development benefitted around 200 families.
Most of the remaining retirees are on maintenance medicines or face a host of medical problems, while some are "gravely ill," Policarpio said.
Policarpio thanked the government of President Marcos for providing the environment that helped facilitate the release of the retirement pay.
He also extended gratitude to the Senate, especially its president Juan Miguel Zubiri and Sens. Aquilino Pimentel 3rd, Jinggoy Estrada and JV Ejercito, who sponsored the bill to make the payment possible.
The IBC-13 management also thanked Speaker Martin Romualdez, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, and the Governance Council for Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations headed by Chairman Marius Corpus.
"In the spirit of thanksgiving, they can now look forward to enjoying their waning years with dignity and pride in having served God, country and people," the IBC-13 management head said.
Established in 1960, IBC-13 started as a private company known then as the Inter-Island Broadcasting Corp.
But it wasn't until the martial law years that it reached its peak after it was acquired in 1975 by the Benedicto Group of Companies of the late Marcos crony Roberto Benedicto, who set up IBC-13 as it is known today.
IBC-13 became the No. 1 television station from 1977 to 1988, broadcasting various programs considered for its time to be socially relevant, entertaining, informative and commercially viable.
After the fall of the Marcos regime, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies, sequestered the TV station.
In 1992, the company became wholly owned by the state following a compromise between the PCGG and Benedicto.
In July 2000, IBC-13 was granted a 25-year franchise.
In 2010, IBC-13 operated under the control of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, later reorganized and renamed as the Presidential Communications Office under the Marcos administration.