What We Can Learn About Workplace Safety from Eddie Garcia's Death

Image from Pep.ph 

Eddie Garcia passed away last June 20, two weeks after suffering a preventable workplace accident that injured his cervical spine. He then fell into a coma and never woke up. His family decided not to resuscitate him. He was 90 years old. 

Initial reports had him "collapsing" on set while shooting an action scene for a forthcoming GMA teleserye in Tondo. Later there was a statement allegedly from his family that said he suffered from a heart attack. 

Then video shot by bystanders revealed that he appeared to trip on cable wire, tried to rebalance himself and fell. His family and doctors corroborated this statement: there was no heart attack. He tripped on some cable wire and fell. 

The people on set seemed unprepared for something like this happening. There was no medical crew on standby. It took some time to bring him to the nearest hospital because they had to call a cab. (Where were the service vans?) The people who helped carry Eddie Garcia were most likely sincere in wanting to help, but being untrained in how to handle neck fracture victims, probably made his condition worse. 

GMA promised to review the video. They asked for prayers for Manoy Eddie. Then they've been eeriely quiet since. 

It's been two weeks and the actor with a 70 year career, who was in the pink of health and would have probably continued working for a few more years, is now gone. By all accounts, he's a very nice guy. Always professional, arrived early on set before anyone else, sharp memory. 

I suppose it's at this point that I should mention that I worked with him sometime back. He would have comments and suggestions for possible trajectories for the character he's playing, but never demanded anything. The last call was still with the creative pool. In his projects, he never forgot to thank everyone--even creatives, who are not usually on set. We did set visits, and I regret that I don't have a picture with him though. 

People are mourning. A common refrain heard over and over again is that no one is to blame for this "accident." Judy Ann Santos, who never got to work with Manoy Eddie, expressed regret at this preventable workplace accident. Here's what she posted in her Instagram account: 

"sana sa nangyaring to, maging bukas ang isip ng mga networks sa tamang pag aalaga, pagbigay ng sapat na kaalaman sa lahat ng taga production artista man o hindi, pagdating sa mga ganitong sitwasyon..maaring naiwasan sana .." 

The Inquirer asks why there was no medical crew on standby. GMA replied: “It has been the Network’s practice to have medical personnel and ambulance crew on standby whenever the production is executing big action scenes during taping." But there was none that day. Should we assume that it was *not* a big scene that therefore required an ambulance? 

This isn't just for veteran actors or big stars. On the project we worked on, there were several senior actors in the cast, including his Ang Probinsyano co-star Susan Roces. The usual protocol is for these senior actors to have an earlier cut off time. Midnight and even earlier, they're gone. You shoot their scenes first. On the other hand, I can't quite remember if it's required to have an ambulance on standby. But we got through that show with no untoward accidents. In hindsight, we were lucky. 

But the point is to be ready for emergencies. 

Another possible safety protocol would be to not let the senior actors do anything physically straining. People pointed out that Eddie Garcia was in Ang Probinsyano for quite some time, and most of his scenes had him acting his scenes while sitting down in a room. Safe. 

The Director's Guild of the Philippines issued a statement: Garcia’s death “is a sad and urgent reminder to the film and television industries that safety protocols at work and on set are of paramount importance.” 

At his wake, actor Rez Cortez called for better working conditions for film workers. Cortez mentioned that Garcia's advocacy was to have a safe place of work. Cortez further says: “Sana magkaroon na ng ng safety officers sa set, mayroong mga medical team, may ambulance, may insurance, at among others, sana maregulate na ang working conditions ng mga taga-pelikula at telebisyon.”

Yeah, imagine if we do. 

Cultural worker and activist Katrina Stuart-Santiago, on the news that EVA Air attendants hold a strike that halted thousands of flights in Taiwan, asks us to imagine what could happen if "EVERYONE who worked for television went on strike and demanded accountability for the death of #EddieGarcia, and pushed for better, safer workplaces for ALL TV workers? #Imagine!"

These are standard for other industries. But the entertainment and news media still has a long way to go. This is specially true for television workers, where production staff work for 24 hours straight. You pull out from the station at 4AM and if you're lucky, shoot is done before or by morning. If you're really unlucky, you will still be on set in the afternoon, shooting material that will be aired later that night. 

If this could happen to a stalwart of the Philippine entertainment industry, what more the little people: the lighting crew, the guys who make your coffee--or even the crew whose task it was to lay down the electrical wires needed on set? Surely, those who did those tasks on that Tondo set feel guilty. They could have been more careful, but they aren't to blame. It's a systemic malaise of an industry that asks so much from its workers but could not and would not do much to ensure their safety or even recognize their status as real employees. 

This is one of the reasons why I decided to shift careers. I wasn't that young anymore to be doing meetings that lasted over 12 hours and sometimes continued until 1AM, then have something deliverable the next day. It was becoming difficult to go on location and be on the set for more than 24 hours. That year, several people died. I thought it was a sign. It was time to go. 

As for Manong Eddie, one way of looking at this is that at age 90, he lived a full life and enjoyed a career and passed away doing something he clearly loved. It's not ideal, this passing. So long, sir, and thanks for all the memories. 

Financial Wellness 101

Take the red pill or the blue pill. I got handed the red pill. 

Last week I attended this Financial Wellness seminar at work. I heard about it through e-mail and signed up for it. There were a few questions like whether you invest and in what instruments; if you subscribe to a time deposit, UITF, stocks, mutual funds, etc. A few days before the appointed date I got a notification telling us which room to go to. 

On the day itself, it turns out that two banks were presenting their investment options. These were BPI and BDO. Then the room you were assigned to corresponded to the session with a particular bank. In short, they already chose for you. I got sent to the orientation hosted by BPI. 

The "101" in the title should have clued me in as to the sort of content it would have. It was mostly an introduction to how to handle your finances, like prioritising savings over expenses (aka "Pay yourself first") and knowing your risk profile in order to know which investment instruments fit your timeline and capability. 

What's surprising was that I didn't know the place I work in has an investment arm. But even more interesting were the results of the survey we were asked to fill out during the sign up. There were ~70+ respondents. About half already had investments, the other half did not invest. For the investors, the most popular form was insurance. Next was a tie between UITFs/mutual funds and land. Then time deposits, their own business and stocks. 

For the non-investors, the top concern given for not investing is the lack of understanding of what investments are all about. Next, there's a tie between investment being "too expensive" and "too risky." Twenty-five percent said they don't have time. And a good chunk also said they are "afraid of new things." 

Roughly 1% of the PH population invests in stock.
A nice improvement, but we've got a long ways to go. 

The seminar took care of the knowledge gap in investing. A cursory look at the participants and I noticed that (a) they were mostly the office bound employees, (b) a sizeable tito and tita aged contingent but also (c) there were young people, which was heartening. After all, there was this report that the rate of Filipinos putting their money in stocks has gone up with over a million accounts with brokerages, with the bulk of the rise made up of retail investors at 97% and 21% of those are in the 18-29 age bracket. 

Only one guy was willing to admit that he invests in stocks. When asked which stocks he held in his port, he quipped that he already sold his BPI. The investment advisor acknowledged it was the lowest in six years, so it might be a good bargain atm. The guy then said that he also has Jollibee. This then led to the vagaries of stock investing: that it might be affected by issues like Chicken Sad and Endo for Jollibee. But it's still all good if you hold on to your stocks in the long term. 

What he said. 

Which brings us to the key takeaways from the seminar: 

1. Know your HERO, or Horizon, Experience, Risk Tolerance and Objective. 
2. Timing does not work but with the current market condition, now is the right time to invest. 
3. Diversification is important. 

All in all, it's a good introduction to the investing life.  I would have wanted to know more about the various funds offered by the bank, although that's something that could be researched online. They were mostly offering their UITFs. Other options like SaveUp or PERA were off the table. In the end, I got some snacks and freebies by answering their pop quiz and spinning a roulette for some giveaways. All in an afternoon's unpaid non-work.