MANILA – Malacañang made no comment on the reported plan of Solicitor General Jose Calida to file a quo warranto petition on the franchise of media giant ABS-CBN before the Supreme Court.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Calida’s supposed petition might not have something to do with President Rodrigo Duterte’s constant attack to the network.
“I have yet to talk to Calida regarding the supposed petition to revoke ABS-CBN’s franchise,” Panelo said in a press conference at the Malacañang Palace on Thursday.
“This is not necessarily related to Duterte’s previous statements about the news network,” he added. “The OSG’s job is to file a petition if he sees there is a transgression.”
It was reported on Thursday at The Manila Times that Calida will ask the High Court to revoke the franchise of ABS-CBN through a quo warranto case for violating the terms and conditions of the franchise granted by the Congress.
A quo warranto petition is a special writ or legal action which would compel a person or entity to show by what warrant an office or franchise was held, claimed and exercised.
President Duterte has repeatedly threatened to block the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN when it expires at the end of March. He even suggested to the Lopezes to just sell the network.
There are at least nine bills filed in the House of Representatives seeking the renewal of the network’s franchise but those measures were not yet being tackled by the House Committee on Legislative Franchises./PN
