Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-13), a government-owned media, is set to close unless there is a budget allocation, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said on Friday, Sept. 3.
Cruz-Angeles raised this concern in a House hearing on the proposed budget of the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) for the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP).
The OPS has proposed a Php 1.22 million budget wherein the Php 473 million is allocated for the office while the Php 748 million goes to its attached agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC).
Cruz-Angeles said IBC received Php 77 million for personal services in 2020 but no budget was allocated to the company in 2021, 2022, and also for the coming 2023.
“Humingi po kami sa personal services and capital outlay para ma-ituloy natin ang pag broadcast ng IBC pero na-zero na po sila, completely,” she said.
The press secretary appealed to the lawmakers to consider funding the company.
“Kung hindi po malagyan ang IBC, mawawalan po ng trabaho ang ating workers at by January close na operations na po tayo,” she told the lawmakers.
Cruz-Angeles explained that IBC was supposedly up for privatization which is why it was not given a budget.
“Ngunit base doon sa batas, kailangan kapag pinrivatize mo ang IBC, dapat makadeliver siya ng one billion para sa modernization ng PTV natin. Hindi po makaka-raise at the current state ang ating IBC. Kailangan palakihin natin yung value niya pero hindi niya magagawa yun lalong-lalo na kung mag force to close ang ating IBC,” she added.
In 2016, former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino approved the privatization of IBC-13 based on the recommendation of the GOCC, and it was supposed to undergo public bidding during former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte's adminstration.
