Deputy Speaker and Las Piñas Representative Camille Villar filed a bill that seeks to mandate a number of significant benefits to every practicing journalist, safeguarding the welfare of media workers.
As she filed House Bill 6543, Villar said that safeguarding the welfare of journalists in their news coverage is necessary.
In a statement, Villar said that journalists serve as the front liners when it comes to important assignments in which they face the most dangerous situations, such as typhoons, disasters, floods, riots, war, and conflicts, so they could deliver the news to the people.
She noted that some frontline journalists “accept field assignments bringing only their passion sans insurance or hazard pay although they risk their lives in the name of journalism.”
Under HB 6543 filed last December 6, 2022, all practicing journalists are entitled to insurance, tax-exempt hazard pay, and other incentives, whether they are permanent, temporary, contractual, or casual journalists employed by media entities in the Philippines.
Apart from full-time journalists, freelancers are also entitled to insurance benefits, with the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System as a requirement to create special coverage for them, especially when covering war zones, conflict-stricken areas, and calamity-affected places.
Moreover, field journalists are entitled to disability benefits of up to P300,000 for total or partial disability, P300,000 in death, and reimbursement of medical costs of up to P200,000 for those who need medical assistance while performing their duty.
