IBC-13 shut down looms

A state-owned television station may shut down by next year if Congress will not provide additional funding, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles told lawmakers on Friday.

She appealed to the House Committee on Appropriations members to grant its requested budget for IBC-13 so as not to lead to the network's closure by January 2023.

"We have a small appeal. If we won't fund the IBC, the workers would lose their jobs and it will cease operations by January," Angeles said during the House hearing on the budget of the Office of the Press Secretary.

Angeles said her office asked for personal services, maintenance of equipment, and capital expenditures to keep the broadcast operations of IBC running, but it was given zero.

She explained that because IBC-13 was designated for privatization, it did not receive any funding.

IBC received P73.689 million under the 2022 national budget.

Moreover, she said there was no allocation for personnel services and salaries of the employees of broadcast network PTV-4.

"We were requesting an MOOE of P240 million so that we could raise the salaries of PTV workers but we were only given P125 million," she added.

The OPS proposed a budget of P1.2 billion in the 2023 National Expenditure Program. It is 44 percent lower than the agency's 2022 budget, which was P840.62 billion.

Some P473.1 million will go to the OPS proper. Of the total, P192.5 million would go to personnel services, P275.5 million would be for maintenance and other operating expenses, and P5 million for capital outlay.

Some P748.3 million were allocated for its other attached agencies and corporations.

All attached agencies and corporations have zero budget for their capital outlay, like IBC and APO, which is authorized to solicit and accept printing jobs with other agencies or corporations owned or controlled by the government.