BAGUIO CITY – The city legislative body approved a resolution requesting the inclusion in the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the city government and the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) of media as beneficiaries in their programs as their work has been significantly impacted by the current measures to combat the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID) 2019 global pandemic.
The resolution authored by Councilor Arthur Allad-iw states that journalists and media practitioners in the city need also social welfare support from government agencies and the city government during this period of the extended Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) as bulk of their work had been affected by the temporary stoppage of operation.
The resolution points out that their organization, the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club (BCBC), had established a help desk at the City Public Information Office where resources generated by the group from willing individual and corporate donors have been distributed to media practitioners who are in dire need of the said assistance.
The resolution points out that media workers in the advertising, marketing and block timers have been also heavily impacted by the extended ECQ as 100 percent of the supposed sales and advertisements had reportedly gone down following the stoppage of business operations that are the lifeblood of any media outfit as the same are the main source of compensation for their workers, whether regular or not.
With the declaration of a state of calamity throughout the country, the resolution claims that those who were dependent on the media for their jobs were affected, particularly those performing jobs where the policy is no work, no pay, and the correspondents and stringers who are dependent on their published news gathered in their coverages.
According to the resolution, only a few among the existing media outlets enjoy regular employment, like those in the print and some in the radio, while most of the media practitioners classified as correspondents or stringers paid based on their contributed news and published outputs by the media institutions where they are connected.
The resolution stipulates the working media in the city are scattered in the 12-print media, 3 television companies and 15 radio stations in the country’s undisputed Summer Capital.
The resolution claims hundreds of media practitioners in the city had been the partner of the city government in the implementation of the city’s programs, projects and activities by bringing worthy information to the residents and the public in general as part of the role of the media to inform and educate the people on the programs, projects and activities of the concerned government agencies and the city government.
The resolution also endorsed the BCBC to avail of the appropriate programs, projects and activities of the regional offices of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to supplement their income, even after the lifting of the ECQ.
By Dexter A. See