With the recent fiasco that GMA Network was involved in as their teams asked for ‘free footages’ and award-winning photographer Ezra Acayan calling them out, they now have released their own statement regarding the issue.
According to the statement, the Kapuso network will look into this malpractice. However, they clarified that all third-party sources were fairly compensated.
Ezra, who was very vocal in calling out media giants doing this practice, previously called out GMA News and Public Affairs and The Atom Araullo Specials (TAAS) where they asked a drone operator to ‘waive the fees’ for his footage.
This incident was during the Cagayan flooding where the network and TAAS sent a letter to Louie Antonio asking for permission to use his drone footage of the flooding. They had 2 footages where one was free and the other was paid.
Now, he narrated the story of Wilson Paguyo, a former chef in Paris wherein Paguyo organized relief operations during the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wilson Paguyo, an OFW working as a chef in Paris, was one of many Filipinos whose work was put on hold after French authorities implemented a strict lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
— Ezra Acayan (@eacayan) December 1, 2020
Concerned for the welfare of fellow Filipinos who are out of work and unable to return home to the Philippines, Wilson organized relief drives to help them survive the lockdown.
— Ezra Acayan (@eacayan) December 1, 2020
Wilson used his own savings and raised funds by selling vegetables, and risked his life going door to door to deliver food and essentials to fellow Filipinos. He was especially concerned for elderly and undocumented Filipinos who were afraid to be deported.
— Ezra Acayan (@eacayan) December 1, 2020
When GMA heard the heroic deeds of Paguyo, they reached out to him to be featured on their documentary series. The documentary was about Filipinos’ lives who were stranded abroad because of the pandemic.
Wilson's story caught the attention of @gmanews, and wanted to feature him in a series of documentaries showing life of Filipinos who are stranded abroad because of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/leSAJYK6ag
— Ezra Acayan (@eacayan) December 1, 2020
This is where the team of GMA News and Public Affairs asked for free footages since they argued that it will be good exposure for Paguyo regarding his relief operations. According to Acayan, the team went as far as making Paguyo shoot the videos himself. And this is all done for free.
GMA asked if they could use his videos for free on their program, and rather than hire an independent videographer in France to document Wilson's daily life, they went as far as to ask him to do the shooting himself also for free.
— Ezra Acayan (@eacayan) December 1, 2020
When Paguyo ran out of funds, he reached out to GMA if they could at least donate to him in exchange for his work. However, the network refused stating that they do not have the budget to do so.
Running out of funds, he desperately asked GMA if they could at least donate directly to his cause in exchange for his work, to which GMA responded that they "don't have the budget." He never heard from them again.
— Ezra Acayan (@eacayan) December 1, 2020
As a result, Paguyo reached out to Acayan after the former saw the latter’s posts regarding the network’s practice of asking for free footages. With his exposé, Paguyo broke down in tears, feeling that he had been used. Wilson also regrets giving away his footages for free since it could have helped a lot of people if he agreed to be compensated.
EDIT: Staff did reach out to him after program aired, and pitched in donations out of their own pockets. Confirmed this Wilson. This just makes this incident alot more heartbreaking. The only winner here is the network, both Wilson and the staff are victims.
— Ezra Acayan (@eacayan) December 1, 2020
When the staff of GMA heard the heart-breaking news about Paguyo, they chipped in to compensate Wilson. However, for Acayan, this is unfair as the network who now had the rights for the footage got what they wanted and made their staff pay for it.
