PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte said on Wednesday that he had accepted the apology of ABS-CBN Corp. after the top official of the network said in a Senate hearing on Monday that they were sorry if they had offended him.
“I accept the apology, of course,” he told reporters when asked to respond to the apology of Carlo L. Katigbak, the company’s president and chief executive officer.
Asked whether he supports the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise, he said: “I said I will leave it up to Congress.”
But he declined to accept the P2.6 million being refunded by the company for not airing his campaign ad during the 2016 presidential elections.
“Wag na (Never mind). Ibigay nila sa ano (They should just donate it to) any charitable institution of their choice.”
When asked whether he would instruct the Solicitor General about his stand, he said he could not tell the state lawyer to stop once an official statement had been issued.
“The SolGen does not clear with me unlike the Secretary of Justice,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court deferred action on the pleadings of broadcast company ABS-CBN and ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc. and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
Public Information Chief Brian Keith F. Hosaka said the pleadings of both parties on the petitions for quo warranto and gag order will be taken up again on March 10.
“This is to give the Justices time to go over the pleadings submitted by the parties, including the comments recently filed by the respondents,” he told reporters in a mobile-phone message.
ABS-CBN filed its comments on the petitions of the state lawyers. The network said if the petition for quo warranto would be granted, it will send a “chilling effect” to the press as it could compromise freedom of speech and of the press.
It also denied the law violations it allegedly committed as claimed by the OSG.
The network said that issuance of a gag order is a violation of rights to free speech and free press. It also said that the state lawyer failed to show how its reports may “create a clear and present danger of impairing the proceedings before this Honorable Court” and it is just performing its mandate on information dissemination.
In the quo warranto petition, the OSG sought to cancel the legislative franchises of the network and its unit for allegedly violating the laws such as provision on foreign ownership restriction and operating a pay-per-view channel without regulatory approval, among others.
The state lawyer filed a petition for issuance of gag order to prohibit both parties from releasing statements discussing the merits of the case. — Gillian M. Cortez and Vann Marlo M. Villegas
