(PNA file photo by Robert Alfiler) MANILA - Senator Robinhood Padilla will push for additional protection for actors and workers in the entertainment industry, even as a former Malacanang official sought his help to include members of the media in his bill. Senate Bill No. 450, or the "Eddie Garcia Law" as a tribute to the late veteran actor, will ensure the protection and benefits of workers in show business. "The bill is a response to the urgent call of the members of the television and movie industry for the government to provide guidelines for safe and better working conditions and for the protection of the workers' welfare in the industry," Padilla said in a statement. Joel Sy Egco, the first executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) and former National Press Club president, likewise urged Padilla to include media workers, similar to House Bill 304, or the Media Workers Welfare Act filed by Camarines Sur Representatives Lu
(File photo) MANILA - The incoming Marcos administration is crafting a "more expansive" policy that will give media workers in the country more protection and benefits, Press Secretary-designate Trixie Cruz-Angeles said Wednesday. "We are always concerned about the safety of our journalists. We are crafting possibly a new policy on this one. Possibly, [we will] also make it a little more expansive," Cruz-Angeles said during the Laging Handa briefing. She issued the statement, as she acknowledged the National Press Club's (NPC) appeal for the incoming Marcos administration to continue supporting the operations of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMs). Cruz-Angeles said the promotion of journalists' welfare would be included in the expanded policy. The updated policy, she said, would help media practitioners cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. "So, you know we are looking into welfare not just safety or protection because apparently the curr
PTFoMS executive director Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco (PNA photo by Avito Dalan) MANILA - The Duterte administration has created a "safe environment" for Philippine journalists, Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) executive director Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco said on Tuesday. During the second day of the Duterte Legacy Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, Egco said the outgoing administration, through the PTFoMS, was able to end the supposed "dark chapter" in the history of Philippine media. The PTFoMS, Egco said, is "indeed a Duterte legacy," considering its accomplishments in expediting the investigation and resolution of cases of media-related violence. Egco said media workers in the country were in a "very dark place," until President Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency in 2016. "Before the creation of the task force, the Philippine media was really in a very sorry state, in a very, v
(PNA photo by Manny Balbin) MANILA - The National Press Club of the Philippines has passed a special resolution calling on the incoming Marcos administration to continue supporting the operation of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS). "As one of the national media organizations actively engaged as media-partner and stakeholder of the task force since its creation by President Duterte in 2016, we have seen how effective the task force has been in fulfilling its mandate of giving protection to the life, liberty and safety of all media workers," NPC president Lydia Bueno said in a news release on Friday. "We believe its continuation under the Marcos administration would send the strong message to the world that it is just as committed, if not more, in upholding a free and responsible press that was started by the Duterte administration," she added. Under Special Resolution No. 1, series of 2022, the NPC noted that since the creation of the PTFoMS in