By Fernan Angeles
BUSINESS mogul Manuel V. Pangilinan of TV5 has officially confirmed that their television station is in talks with ABS-CBN talents and employees.
Simultaneous with his statement, TV5 issued a separate statement on their official Facebook page, hinting at their willingness to absorb retrenched cameramen, directors, and scriptwriters from ABS-CBN.
“There are ongoing conversations with their talents, but it’s not as expansive as one would assume. We’re careful about any contractual arrangements these talents have with [ABS-CBN]. We’d like to respect that,” Pangilinan said.
He added: “And even if they don’t have any contractual obligations with [ABS-CBN], we’re careful, we respect whatever arrangements they might have with their mother studio.”
Asked for the logic behind the idea of hiring retrenched ABS-CBN employees, Pangilinan hinted on what he referred to as his intention – to give employment, as well as the creation of new content under TV5.
ABS-CBN, which was denied of its franchise renewal which ended in May, continues its programs which could be viewed online and on cable. The network has since announced that talents and employees can look for new jobs outside the station of even with corresponding networks.
For the last few weeks, ABS-CBN’s talents have been reportedly jumping to other networks – including TV5. These include Pokwang, Ria Atayde, and Jessy Mendiola.