Quo vadis, IBC station?

By Alex P. Vidal

“No solution can ever be found by running in three different directions.”—Deepak Chopra

SOME of them have already died, and some have retired “but they have never enjoyed the fruits of their labor and loyalty to the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC).”

Also, their dreams of seeing the once-splendid IBC managed by a private sector and no longer treated as a second-class citizen by the government, have remained in limbo.

One of them was Eduardo “Eddie” Laczi, who had served as Iloilo City councilor after his retirement as area manager of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-TV12) in Western Visayas.

Laczi died a pauper at 63 in New Haven, Connecticut on October 28, 2013 and reportedly wasn’t able to collect all the benefits due him from the post-EDSA state-sequestered TV station.

The 60-year-old station officially known as IBC-13, now under the management of the Philippine Communications Office, also reportedly owes more than a million pesos in unpaid benefits to former Capiz-based DyJJ station manager Edgardo “Jun” Arbolado, among other former employees and executives.

Arbolado, 52, who had also served as IBC-TV12 area manager before relocating to Virginia, USA in 2008, blamed certain “organic officials” in the management “who did not have the courtesy to officially tell me of the status of my freaking retirement benefit.”

 

-o0o-

 

Arbolado bewailed that he never received a single letter or even a text message on the inquiries he made regarding his unpaid benefits.

Some “neglected” regular employees are also reportedly still hopeful that only IBC’s privatization can lift them from dire straits and solve the TV station’s apparent lackluster state.

But what are the chances that in the remaining two and a half years of the Duterte administration, the IBC-13 will finally be privatized?

It almost reportedly happened, at least during the brief stint of hitherto

president and CEO Kathe­rine Chloe de Castro, who was appointed to the position in August 2018.

“I’m also hoping to bring IBC-13 to the age of streaming which is where everyone in entertainment and broadcast is headed these days, and all these are ultimately geared toward the goal of making the network an attractive investment for privatization,” declared de Castro, as quoted by The Manila Times’ Tessa Mauricio-Arriola in an article on March 8, 2019.

“I find it very challenging to be part of the group that will oversee this crucial phase in IBC-13’s history.”

The “problem” is, “Kath de Castro had been ‘promoted’ to PTV-4 and the optimism she started with IBC-13 had been put to waste,” lamented Arbolado.

“Like the previous administrations since Cory’s, PRRD’s is no different unfortunately, in failing to make things work for IBC-13, despite the high expectations that privatization of the network will take place during Digong’s term. Including myself, many retirees (some have died painfully without enjoying the fruits of their toils and loyalty) have been waiting for decades our retirement benefits. IBC-13 management had been marred by incompetencies and corruption and while many Filipinos over-dramatized the demise of ABS-CBN, the plight of IBC-13 ‘The Orginal No. 1’ and its employees and retirees have been totally ignored.”

 

-o0o-

 

Back in January 2016, then President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III approved the planned privatization of IBC through the Governance Commission for Government-owned and-controlled corporation (GCG).

According to plans, the privatization would undergo a public bidding with an estimated floor price of 10 billion.

Proceeds of the bidding would be reportedly for the increase of state-owned PTV-4’s capital to upgrade and modernize their broadcast capabilities.

The Development Bank of the Philippines had been designated as the privatization’s financial sentinel.

Under the Duterte administration, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, which would coordinate with the GCG, reportedly submitted the privatization plan to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

IBC’s privatization process had supposedly started in October 2016.

Five groups reportedly showed interest to join the bidding process as of December 2016. They were: Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and the groups of former IBC president and current RMN president/CEO Eric Canoy and former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson, energy tycoon and Udenna Corporation chairman Dennis Uy (who recently recent acquired the ISM Communications Corporation) and Davao trader William Lima.

There seems to be “no movement” since then.

It looks like de Castro’s “departure” from the IBC, the apparent lack of interest of some officials who fear they might become “irrelevant” once the IBC has been privatized, and the COVID-19, have conspired to again derail the privatization process.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)