CA denies petition by GMA former talents

CEBU, Philippines - The Special Eighteenth Division of the Court of Appeals (CA) Cebu City has denied the petition for certiorari filed by the former talents of GMA Network’s Cebu station.

CA ruled in favor of the network in a labor case involving the petitioners, Nathaniel Nuevas, Carlo Flores, and Jerry Saquilabon, who were the hosts of the non-operational local television show “Singgit Cebu”.

The petitioners filed a complaint against the TV network for unfair labor practice, illegal suspension, illegal dismissal and non-payment of labor benefits on November 7, 2005, before the National Labor Relations Commission. The complainants also asked for financial, emotional and moral damages from the network.

However, CA upheld the ruling of NLRC and the Labor Arbiter that states there is no employer-employee relationship that exists between GMA and the petitioners in its April 24, 2014, decision by Associate Justice Renato C. Francisco.

“It is in agreement with the Labor Arbiter and the NLRC in saying that respondents have no control over the means and methods by which the petitioners accomplished their work,” CA said.

According to CA, as the host of the program, petitioners knew the parameters of their performances. There performance, however, is dependent on their talents and abilities.”

“GMA is constrained by mandate of law to exercise some form of limited supervision over petitioners in order to ensure that this aspect of responsible broadcasting is not breached,” CA said, adding that GMA shows can be watched “indiscriminately by various of people”.

Further, CA noted that complainants’ services are not exclusive for the network alone, and they were not restricted from working to other entities.

CA said “their services were only needed by the network every Sunday for the Singgit Cebu Show and no other.”

“In sum, we cannot find fault in respondent network when it terminated the talent contracts of petitioners there being no employer-employee relationship,” concluded the CA. —/BAL (FREEMAN)