THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has slapped GMA Network Inc. and its contractors with a fine of almost P900,000, saying the public-listed firm violated occupational and safety and health (OSH) violations in the workplace, which killed veteran actor Eduardo “Eddie” Garcia earlier this year.
On December 2, DOLE-National Capital Region (DOLE-NCR) ordered the media firm to pay a total of P890,000.
Of the said amount, P810,000 will be for the supposed non-submission of GMA of the needed work accident/illness report (WAIR) to DOLE about the incident within the 24-hour period, DOLE-NCR Director Sarah S. Mirasol said.
The company was also ordered to pay an additional P40,000 since there was no safety officer present in the site where Garcia’s scene for the teleserye Rosang Agimat was shot. The other P40,000 was for the absence of a first-aid personnel in the same site.
Substantial compliance
GARCIA died June 20, 2019, from the neck and spine injuries he sustained after he tripped at the site where a scene of Rosang Agimat was being shot in Tondo, Manila, on June 8, 2019.
Citing the result of its fact-finding report of GMA, the DOLE noted the network committed the three aforementioned violations.
The findings were contested by GMA, stating that the insistence of DOLE to have a safety officer in the site was “oppressive, arbitrary, whimsical and despotic.”
It further said that the DOLE-NCR director has no jurisdiction on the case of Garcia, since he was a “talent and not an employee of GMA,” and that it has “substantially” complied with the reportorial requirements, as well as having safety officers although they are assigned to the GMA’s main office only.
Preventable death
IN the 14-paged resolution, the DOLE-NCR, however, emphasized that GMA is still liable for what happened to Garcia in terms of ensuring that his work environment, even if it is just a temporary shooting location, remain safe.
“The jurisdiction of DOLE to decide cases involving violations of occupational safety and health standards does not depend on the absence of employer-employee relationship, but on the possible violation/s committed in the enforcement and implementation of occupational safety and health standards,” Mirasol said.
Mirasol also noted GMA only submitted its WAIR on July 5, or 27 days after the work accident and, thus, proved GMA was not compliant with the 24-hour submission rule. Last, GMA and its contractors were unable to prove they deployed neither a safety officer nor a first-aid personnel in the work site.
“GMA should have deployed one of its safety officers in the shooting site of Rosang Agimat, which could have prevented the untimely demise of Garcia,” Mirasol said.