TAPE Inc is happy for this court’s decision
TAPE Inc., the production company previously behind the longest-running noontime show Eat Bulaga, hoped that the truth would come out after the court dismissed the complaint filed by employees.
The production company went through legal battles against employees and the iconic trio, Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon, who were pioneer hosts of the show. TAPE was not able to secure the title of the show as the court decided that has the right to use “Eat Bulaga.”
Aside from this, the production company also faced a complaint from other employees, based on the article in Inquirer. These employees left TAPE with TVJ.
Nine employees (utility staff, talent coordinator, VTR playback assistant, researcher, lighting director and cameramen of Eat Bulaga) filed a complaint before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) in August 2023 a complaint.
They accused the production company of not transgressing the regularization, non-payment of overtime pay, holiday pay, holiday premium, 13th-month pay, and night shift differential, damages, attorney’s fees, and other causes of action, i.e., non-payment of a special project, unexplainable deductions.”
A part of the decision dated March 27, 2024, stated:
“The record of the case is bereft of any showing that complainants were dismissed, but they instead resigned from respondent company. There is no evidence more glaring and conclusive than the resignation letters written and submitted by complainants themselves.”
“As for the claim for overtime pay, complainants failed to adduce evidence that they rendered actual overtime work which would entitle them to overtime pay. Likewise, for lack of proof of rendition of work during holidays and rendition of work during night time which would entitle them to salary differentials, the same must be dismissed.”
“All other claims are denied for want of factual and legal basis.”
The court will no longer entertain a motion for reconsideration regarding this complaint.
With this, TAPE Inc.’s legal counsel Maggie Abraham-Garduque said that she hopes that this decision will be the prelude of the disclosure of the truth.
In a statement shared by Inquirer, the lawyer said that the production company felt vindicated. She stressed that from the very beginning, TAPE is for its employees. “That was the reason why they continued to air ‘Eat Bulaga’ sans TVJ and other key employees who went with them for their new show at TV5,” she said.
The lawyer also said that TAPE was thinking about the welfare of 200 employees who left and no longer had their jobs. “This as a prelude, I hope truth will start to come out,” she stressed.
Previously, the production company owned by former congressman Romy Jalosjos was accused of not giving the employees salaries. It was also alleged that its debt to GMA Network has reached P800 million.