Thursday, September 26, 2019

Repost: Partner of Eddie Garcia Blames GMA Network for Actor's Death

Image courtesy of www.news.mb.com.ph


Olivia Lilibeth Romero, the long-time partner of the late Eddie Garcia, on Monday blamed a television network’s “negligence” for the death of the movie and television icon.

Appearing before the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment inquiry, Romero said Garcia would not have died had GMA Network sent medical teams in the production set to immediately respond to the accident.

The Senate inquiry into the implementation and compliance to the Republic Act No. 11058 or the Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS) law in the entertainment industry was prompted by Garcia’s death due to an accident while shooting a television series for GMA Network last June. Garcia tripped from a cable wire and suffered a severe neck fracture, causing his death.

Romero, in a statement she read before the senators, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) officials and TV network executives, took to task the GMA Network for failing to ensure the safety of the 90-year-old veteran actor.

“Eddie Garcia’s death would have been prevented, and I say he did not die in vain. Categorically, I state that Eddie Garcia’s death was caused by gross negligence and unsafe working environment and absence of medical team on the set,” she said.

“Unfortunately, TV network GMA should have made the working environment of the 90-year-old Eddie Garcia safe for his work,” she added.

Romero also refuted GMA Network executives who, in the hearing, said they wanted Garcia’s family to first know what really happened in the set.

“Lilybeth Rasonable did not want to first give me the investigation report, she said she owe it to the public to give it first to the public. But I begged for it, through my lawyer,” she said, referring to the network’s senior vice president for entertainment.

The DOLE, in its investigation, had earlier found that GMA committed three violations of the OSHS Law: failing to submit an incident report within 24 hours from the time of the incident, not deploying a safety officer, and not deploying a first aid responder.

GMA executives, during the hearing, admitted these violations but maintained that: they had staff in the set who underwent first-aid training; and that they “also respect the family of Eddie Garcia.”

Romero said she was speaking up so that Garcia’s death will not end up in vain.

“If it takes his untimely death to prevent future threats to actors, stuntmen, and others inside the various production sets of television, film and movie industries, then I, together with the members of Garcia family, will fight until the end to get the lives in protection of his colleagues in place,” she said.

“Kung ang pagkamatay ni Eddie Garcia ang magsisilbing gabay para wala nang peligro o panganib na mangyari sa loob at labas ng produksyon, then ito rin po ang kagustuhan ni Eddie Garcia (If Eddie Garcia’s death will serve as the guidance so that there will be no more accidents within and outside of production, then it would also be the wish of Eddie Garcia),” she added.

Senator Joel Villanueva, Labor committee chairman, said there might be no need to craft a new OSHS law for the movie and television industry.

“Looking at the proposals, mahirap (it might be difficult) to come up with another OSHS Law specifically for another [sector]. Sa nakikita natin, wala tayong nakikitang problema (The way we see it, there is no problem with the law), it’s more of the implementation and compliance,” Villanueva said in an interview with reporters.

DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III, for his part, said he has agreed with actors Rez Cortez and Boots Anson-Roa, who represented the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation, Inc. to meet regarding the specific OSHS for the entertainment sector.

“We will meet with them, the television and movie industry so we will revisit our implementing rules and regulations. This might require some revisions on specific industries like the TV and movie industries,” Bello said.

The OSHS law was signed by President Duterte in August 2018, but its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) were only released by the DOLE in January this year.

Earlier in the hearing, DOLE Assistant Secretary Benjo Santos Benavidez said that since the implementation of the OSHS law, the agency has so far inspected 49,482 establishments from various industries, including the movie and television industry, for compliance.

Of the establishments checked, 50.45 percent were found compliant with law. “Half of them are not compliant with the OSHS,” Benavidez lamented.

Most of the violations committed by companies include the failure to provide safety officers and first-aiders, as well as registration of establishments.

Benavidez said the DOLE has collected from erring companies P4.4 million in fines as of August.

43 comments:

  1. pero totoo naman, gross negligence talaga. may staff nga na red cross certified sa first aid, eh gumalaw ba sila? wala di ba?

    ms. lilibeth i hope you will find peace of mind.

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  2. I blame GMA as well

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  3. Question may kasalan din ba dito ang production team and the director Of the Show? Pwede din ba kasuhan din ang director For neglience too?

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    1. its not part of the director's shop.

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    2. Usually ang safety officer ang may last say kung tuloy ang taping o hindi. Pero kung pumayag ang direktor na pdeng magtaping kahit walang safety officer eh may fault din sya.

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    3. Yung network ang manangot sa lahat. Kung magkaroon man ng asunto GMA ang dapat managot dahil “trabahdor” nila lahat ng involved sa production, which includes the director.

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  4. nagmamatigas pa ang GMA. dyeske kahit saan daanin obviously may gross negligence on their part.

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  5. may negligence talaga from GMA

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  6. Sana may karampatang parusa ito sa GMA.

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  7. I blame GMA as well. No use having Red Cross trained personnel/ambulance on site if they weren’t the ones who gave first aid/has seen to Mr Garcia or brought him to the hospital. The box for having medics on site was ticked but proper of first aid implementation was tragically missed.

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  8. Naalala ko pa Sinakay pa siya sa taxi papunta hospital

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    1. mas naalala ko yung may nakadiin na bag of ice sa batok niya. it bothers me until this day.

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    2. Tsaka yung pag buhat sa kanya 😞 hindi lahat ng nagco collapse, natutumba lalo na pag matanda e na heart attack. Kaya dapat talaga may medical personel sa site to assess the situation.

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    3. And yung pag buhay sa kanya. As in yun sobrang mali pag buhat.

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    4. 1:30 isama mo pa yung how they carried him. So wrong.

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  9. Of course GMA should be blamed and be liable for the death of Eddie Garcia. If you saw the video how he was handled and carried, that for itself is a solid proof of negligence.

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  10. Pwede naman kasing trained ka nga pero in actual situation, never mo pa naexperience yung ganung situation. Matutulala ka nalang pag andyan na eh kung first timer ka.

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    1. That's not an excuse of what happened to Mr. Garcia though.

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    2. THIS! There is a reason why companies hire TRAINED and EXPERIENCED emergency responders/first aid providers - it's exactly for situations like Eddie's. A medic team would cost more yes, but they most definitely would know better on how to respond to medical and emergency needs. Obviously nagtipid si production dito, dahil may nachika lang na marunong sya mag-first aid eh they took it as 'pwede na'.

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  11. Eh ung nga i approve mo ung script na pinatakbo mo ang 90 years old negligent ka na, un pa kayang walang ambulansya sa set.

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    1. Exactly!!! Jusko GMA it doesn't take a genius to assess this. Tapos yung paulit ulit nyong pag deny at hindi pag acknowledge ng shortcomings nyo NAKAKAGALIT. buti hindi nawawalan ng gana ang mga artista nyo sa inyo.

      ACCOUNTABILITY naman!

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  12. Gma should compensate the family of eddie garcia..it’s an untimely death because of neligence!

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  13. GMA's fault. Bakit wala silang standby EMT/Medic team. Fall ang nangyari pero nakita sa video, dahil sa panic ng lahat, yung maling way ng pagbuhat dahil wala namang aasahang medical team.

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  14. Red cross trainee is not a substitute for medics. At dapat may standby na ambulance. I underwent red cross training as well. Naku nman ilang oras lng na training iyon. Iba ang actual at iba sa training.

    Magaling ang legal team ng GMA. Mabuti na lang at nai-video ang incident. People knows the truth at hindi na mabubura eto sa kasaysayan.

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  15. ano bang klaseng palusot.com yan GMA? Be sorry and own up. hindi yong hugas kamay pa despite the clear evidence of negligence.

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  16. Kung trained bakit palpak? Mali ang ginawang pagkarga kay Manong Eddie. Dahil sa kapalpakan ng trained daw na tao nila namatay si Manong Eddie. Dagdag pa ang hindi pag alis sa cable sa daan. Walang safety inspection na ginawa bago eksena.

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  17. Gross negligence talaga. wala nang iba pang iblame kundi yung production/mgt ng GMA. Esp given na action scenes, dapat talaga may naka antabay na paramedics..plus may actor sila na matanda and prone to injuries na. haay.

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  18. matagal na issue sa GMA yan dahil sa sobrang pagtitipid

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  19. ironic walang puso ang Kapuso station naghuhugas kamay

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  20. Kawawa naman si Lillibeth Romero😭

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  21. Kung bakit kasi kumukuha ng napakatanda para sa action scenes. At saka bakit sila pumayag tanggapin ang ganon roles? Eddie Garcia and his live in should know better of the consequences. 90 yrs old doing action. Ridiculous?

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    1. 2:02 cge sisihin mo ung namatay na. nakakadiri ugali mo. malay ba nung tao na hindi pala sia aalagaan ng gma

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    2. He was handled well in Probinsyano's set. The difference negligent ang set ng Kamuning.

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    3. Wow! Victim blaming? Nasa Ang Probinsyano sya for a time at nakaalis sya sa serye ng buhay.

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    4. victim blaming wag kang network tard. manoy has been doing action all his life. he was part of probinsyano for the longest time. action din yon if in case shonga kang walang alam. may nangyari ba sa kanya roon? wala kasi iniisip nilang kapakanan ng matanda. now dito ilang scenes pa lang nadisgrasya na.

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    5. That's not an excuse. Eddie Garcia was in Probinsyano, may mga double sa iba scenes + when uneven ang terrain may umaalalay. Ilang taon sya doon, naaksidente ba siya?

      Gross negligence talaga nangyari...

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    6. Tigilan muna pagiging network tard, ano? Teal talk lang. It was GMA’s negligence that resulted to his untimely death.

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  22. taas din talaga ng pride ng GMA.

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  23. Meron din kasi trained daw pero wala naman natutunan sa training. Kaya nga ang dapat meron ay actual medics.

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  24. If she thinks there was negligence then she can sue GMA.

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  25. Totoo nman na kasalanan yan ng production staff ng teleserye na yun lalo na nung director kc cya ang magde-decide kung pano ang gagawin ng artista Sa bawat eksena so bakit pa niya pinatakbo ang matanda in his 90’s with all the cords all over the ground!

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  26. GMA can never disown what happened.

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  27. ekis ka na sakin GMA

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