Metro Manila, Philippines – The Supreme Court ruled that nearly 100 talents of GMA Network Inc. who filed a labor case in 2014 were regular employees and not independent contractors.
In a resolution dated July 16, 2025 but publicized over the weekend, the Supreme Court Third Division affirmed the 2019 decision of the Court of Appeals in favor of 94 talents, who formed the Talents Association of GMA (TAG).
The high tribunal also said that 50 of them, who were either not renewed or terminated during the pendency of the case, were illegally dismissed.
The talents in the 11-year case were among the 142 individuals who filed for regularization before the labor arbiter in 2014, which the broadcaster argued were independent contractors.
“Talents are regular employees, deserving of security and statutory benefits,” TAG said in a statement. “We believed that since the beginning, and now there is jurisprudence to protect the next generation of media workers in the Philippines.”
Regular employees not contractors
The SC said respondents, which included producers, researchers, cameramen, and among others, performed activities “usually necessary or desirable in the usual business or trade of the network.”
“While GMA admitted that their services are indispensable for a show’s production, the records are bereft of any showing with respect to the unique skills and talents that respondents possess that set them apart from other GMA employees,” read the 33-page resolution.
The court explained that the general terms of the talent agreement “demonstrate that respondents are not free from the control or direction of GMA” — a freedom that was the “key element” in independent job contracting.
It highlighted that the company was empowered to set the production schedules and to require the talent’s presence, as well as the talents were prohibited from offering services to other production outfits.
“Plain as day, there exists an employer-employee relationship between GMA and respondents,” it said.
Illegally dismissed
The SC also said that the 50 respondents who were illegally dismissed are entitled to “reinstatement without loss of seniority rights and other privileges.”
They were entitled to full backwages, inclusive of allowances; and other benefits of their monetary equivalents “computed from the time their compensation was withheld from them up to the time of their actual reinstatement.”
If reinstatement is no longer an option, the SC said respondents shall be awarded separation pay equivalent to one month salary for every year of service, with full backwages computed from the date of their dismissal until the finality of this resolution.
The court said the monetary awards shall earn legal interest of 6 percent per annum from the finality date of the resolution until full satisfaction. The proper computation was remanded to the labor arbiter.
Group calls out contractualization
In welcoming the decision, TAG said it saw members suffering emotionally and mentally in the 11-year case.
TAG was also saddened that their colleague James Arce died in 2023 and did not live to see victory.
“It is time for media companies, especially broadcast networks, to scrap its longtime practice of contractualization through a talent system. It is time to protect Filipino media workers,” the group said.
“This should not have cost us this much to fight. But we are glad we did. This is our gift to the next generation,” it said.
