MICHAEL MEDINA
Editor-in-chief
OZAMIZ CITY—The economic downturn takes its toll on the local broadcast industry and radio station DxDD-Radyo Kampana could possibly be its first casualty.
DxDD, one of the earliest radio stations in Ozamiz and famous for its “Dan-ag sa Dakbayan” slogan is rumored to cease its operation for a few months, a source from the said station told MINDANAO MONITOR the other day.
Although the decision is not yet final and awaiting further official authorization and consultations, the source added that its board of directors has already decided on the fate of the broadcast station rumored to have been riddled with fiscal mismanagement and unable to deliver the profits.
“It may come anytime this week or not,” the source said.
Archbishop Jesus Dosado is the chairman of the board while Vicar General Msgr. Emie Bienes is vice chairman and Fathers Antonio Sagrado, Edgar Calogm Mario Magcanam, Marvin Osmeña, Maximino Naron Jr. and Edgar Canama composed the members of the board.
Canama is the newly appointed priest in-charge of DxDD-AM and FM while veteran announcer Fernando “Nanding” Dumanjug is the present station manager.
The given period was six months, Osmeña, BOD secretary and treasurer, was quoted to have said, confirming a board resolution passed in November, which ordered closing down the operation of both its AM and FM facilities pending an evaluation into its financial liquidity.
This paper later learned that the real intent of the closure is for the Catholic Media Network affiliate to “realign and modify its financial status and upgrade technical facilities.”
December, last year, Dosado commissioned Robert Castro, a certified public accountant, to make an internal audit of DxDD’s financial viability and to present the findings on March 10.
Castro, in a conversation last Sunday refused to reveal his findings but only said that it will made known in due time.
Although unconfirmed, an insider source has reported that Castro was able to discover several discrepancies in the station’s remitted collections and other dealings made by some DxDD employees.
When asked, some DxDD insiders would categorically deny the station is bankrupt and that what was uncovered in the audit dated back to a decade ago.
“Dili oy, we are earning and gaining profits,” somebody from the production department said.
Meanwhile, Dumanjug has submitted a petition that seeks a review of the board resolution.
In the said petition, the station manager underscored that the BOD’s resolution passed in November violated the constitutional provision on the rights of employees and the right of procedural due process.
“They (the BOD) passed the resolution without prior consultation and conference with DxDD employees who are party in interest,” Dumanjug defended.
The former city councilor added that the clear intention of the board’s resolution is to place the stations' employees in a floating status for six months.
“Within the legally prescribe period of six months suspension of operation, DxDD employees placed in floating status can't receive wages, which is tantamount to depriving them the right to life because their jobs denote their means of living,” he reasoned out.
What Dumanjug wanted, as well as with the rest of the employees, is that an open negotiation will be called for to weed out any possible legal solution, not the temporary closure.
This may include the suspension of other wages and incentives, cost cutting and modification of its financial system and increasing revenues by creating hard line programs that will be the road mark for the station’s recovery.
Such programs, according to Dumanjug, may be aimed in spicing up the doctrinal exposition of Catholic Faith Defenders; engage in radio-television kind of broadcasting and by concentrating more on political advertisements.
Canama, in response to Dumanjug’s petition, has stressed that the BOD resolution placing DxDD on a six-month temporary closure is still subject for legal consultation by CBCP legal counsel Sabino Padilla Jr. before it is implemented to the letter.
Dosado, for his part, clarified that the archdiocese of Ozamiz will not abandon DxDD, the radio apostolate being the modern pulpit of evangelization.
The archbishop revealed that he is at the moment sourcing out financial grants for DxDD but first the BOD has to modify the guiding principles and systems of DxDD’s financial course of action to avoid the repetition of this present trouble.
Last Jan. 18, DxDD-FM marked its 29th anniversary while DxDD-AM will celebrate its 39th anniversary on Feb. 14.
All in all, DxDD has some 20 employees; half of this make up the technical men and paid volunteers.
“All those involved in the corporation and in its radio stations are extensions of the bishop in his office of evangelization. We need to professionalize ourselves in the performance of our apostolate. Those who work for the Gospel must not be left behind in the practice and use of the instruments of communication by those who work only for their livelihood,” Dosado concluded. WITH REPORTS FROM WENDELL TALIBONG