SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday urged the Department of Labor and Employment to probe allegations that some media workers involved in the TV project of the Department of Education have not been paid their salaries.

Media workers and executive producers of Ei2 Tech, Inc., a production company tapped by the DepEd to produce TV episodes for distance learning, demanded that they be paid.

Some of them reported that they have not received full compensation since September 2020.

In December last year, some of them wrote to television host Paolo Bediones, Ei2 Tech, Inc. owner, to seek explanation on the delays and to call for the release of their payments.

When the letter was leaked to the media, they were threatened by Bediones with libel.

DepEd clarified that its engagement with the company at first was purely on a voluntary basis.

On December 29, 2020, the department awarded Ei2 Tech, Inc. a P45.5 million contract for the first phase of the DepEd TV project.

DepEd officials said a partial payment of P9 million was released to Bediones’ company.

“Ang mga media workers na naging bahagi ng DepEd TV ay may malaking ambag sa pagpapatuloy ng edukasyon ngayong panahon ng pandemya kaya dapat naman siguraduhin natin na hindi nahuhuli ang bayad sa kanila bilang sukli sa kanilang serbisyo,” Gatchalian said.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture said that changing policies was another concern that the workers raised.

While most of them were initially promised by the company a monthly flat rate of P50,000 to P60,000, they were told later on that they will instead be paid P3,750 per episode.

They were also asked to produce official receipts because they are considered suppliers since they are not regular employees.

If they can’t produce ORs, they were told to ask for assistance from the company’s accountant to process them for a fee of P5,000.