MANILA – Three Ilongga members of the House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Franchises voted to reject ABS-CBN’s franchise application after a series of hearings.
Calling it a “historic” proceeding, Palawan 1st District Rep. Franz Alvarez, the chairperson of the House committee, announced that 70 lawmakers voted to adopt the technical working group’s (TWG) report to junk the media giant’s request to be granted a 25-year extension of broadcast franchise. Only 11 lawmakers voted against the report, while two inhibited and one abstained.
Ilongga congresswomen who voted in favor of TWG’s recommendation were Janette Garin of the 1st District of Iloilo, Julienne Baronda of the Lone District of Iloilo City and Sharon Garin of AAMBIS-OWA party-list.
On the other hand, Cong. Loren Legarda of the Lone District of Antique inhibited from voting on ABS-CBN franchise renewal, citing “conflict of interest.”
A total of 85 lawmakers registered their votes on Friday after summarizing the arguments on various issues hounding the network’s franchise.
Of the 85, 46 were regular members and 39 were ex-officio members of the committee.
A total of 12 hearings were held in consideration of the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, which has been ordered shut on May 5 following the expiration of its congressional franchise.
‘NOT A PRESS FREEDOM ISSUE’
Many issues had been raised against ABS-CBN based on the TWG report. These were the following:
* Citizenship of Eugenio Lopez III, whose family owns the network and has dual citizenship as Filipino and American
* Foreign ownership allegedly through issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts which was also true of other media companies
* Inappropriate program content which Garcia did not elaborate on
* Meddling in politics which Garcia also did not elaborate on
* Tax avoidance
* Questionable labor practices
“It is what it is – a denial of a privilege granted by the State because the applicant was seen as undeserving of the grant of a legislative franchise. By no means can this franchise application be related to press freedom,” the Committee resolution read.
“If it were so, then all applicants for legislative franchises covering mass media could simply claim such freedom and force the hand of this Committee each time,” it added. “Such a scenario is totally inconsistent with the nature of legislative franchises as a mere privilege and never a matter of right.”
The TWG members include Deputy Speaker Pablo John Garcia, Representatives XJ Romualdo of Camiguin and Stella Quimbo of Marikina. Among them, only Quimbo dissented.
“Napakaganda nung ginawa nilang report nung TWG. Ni-line up nila lahat ng issue… ‘Yung citizenship hindi daw klaro, but all other issue malinaw may problema talaga,” said Anak Kalusugan Partylist Rep. Mike Defensor.
Sagip Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, for his part, said while he empathizes with those who will be left jobless by the network shutdown, ABS-CBN really committed violations.
“They were unable to unload the burden of proving they deserve a new franchise,” Marcoleta said.
“‘Yung sinabi nil ana ‘handa kaming magbago,’ okay ‘yun. Eh noong nag-hearing na, lumabas takipan dito, takipan diyan.”
DEEPLY HURT
ABS-CBN Corp., in a statement, said they were “deeply hurt” with the denial of franchise renewal as this was not the outcome they were expecting after participating in the 12 hearings by the House committee.
“This is not the outcome we have hoped for, but we remain grateful that we were able to participate in the process and clear the issues raised against ABS-CBN,” ABS-CBN chairman Mark Lopez said in a press statement.
“The company is very grateful for the unwavering support of all the sponsors who authored our bills and to all the lawmakers who believed we deserve a franchise,” he added. “It was not an easy task, but we drew strength from God and our people.”
Several senators have expressed disappointment over House committee’s rejection of the franchise renewal with Ilonggo Sen. Franklin Drilon saying it is a reminiscent of martial law.
“I am deeply saddened by this episode in the history of our nation. It is reminiscent of the dark pages in the history of Philippine press in 1972,” Drilon said. “I am more convinced that the only fault of ABS-CBN is it stepped on some powerful political toes, hence the sword has been unleashed on it.”
“The sword of Damocles will continue to hang perilously over other media networks. Both the legislators and the executive can wield the sword at their whim and caprice. This is when democracy starts to weaken,” he added.
HANDS OFF
Malacañang respected the verdict of the House committee, saying President Rodrigo Duterte already forgiven the network after it issued a public apology through its CEO Carlo Katigbak.
“Magmula nang humingi ng paumanhin ang ABS-CBN ay naging neutral na si Presidente,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said over DZBB. “Sinabi niya rin sa mga kaalyado sa Kongreso na bumoto ayon sa konsensya.”
“Much as we want to work with the aforesaid media network, we have to abide by the resolution of the House committee,” he added. “It was the “sole prerogative of Congress that we in the Executive recognize.”
ABS-CBN went off air on May 5 after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued a cease and desist against the network for lack of franchise.
NTC’s May 5 action was a turnaround from NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba’s statement before the House of Representatives in March that they will issue a provisional authority to ABS-CBN given that the House and the Senate made communications stating they are in favor of such issuance.
The measures seeking franchise renewal for ABS-CBN have been pending since 2014 but the House only decided to start its deliberations on these proposals on March 10 this year.
WHAT’S NEXT?
House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, an ex-officio member of the committee, said there are remedies that ABS-CBN and lawmakers who are for the franchise can resort to including the re-filing of a new bill which shall undergo the same process that the denied bills for the franchise went through.
Zarate also disclosed that there is a rule where a lawmaker who voted with the majority – in this scenario, a person who voted against the franchise renewal – can file a motion for reconsideration.
“The motion for reconsideration will be heard in the same meeting if it’s raised in the same meeting or if it is raised on the same day on writing, it should be calendared by the committee for a hearing,” the lawmaker added./PN
