AUTHORS of the pending bills for the renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN Corp. urged House Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano to facilitate the “immediate convening” of the House committee on legislative franchises.
“While we also take strong exceptions to NTC’s (National Telecommunications Commission) trickery and the Office of the Solicitor General’s interventionist action, we firmly believe that the House now has the primary duty and responsibility to put an end to the uncertainties and confusion brought by the pendency of the application of renewal of the ABC-CBN’s franchise,” part of the letter dated May 12 read.
Only one hearing on the media network’s franchise has been held so far on March 10, when NTC Commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba assured House lawmakers that his office would provide a provisional authority to ABS-CBN to continue its operations.
ABS-CBN went off-air on May 5 after NTC issued a cease-and-desist order to the media network.
“The Committee and the House are now being blamed for the shutdown of the network and for being off the air since then, as well as the displacement of thousands of its employees and workers. That the citizenry also lost one of their main sources of credible and efficient news and information in this time of crisis brought by the covid-19 pandemic was also largely blamed on our chamber,” the letter said.
The following legislators signed the petition: Deputy Speaker Vilma Santos-Recto, Deputy Speaker Johnny T. Pimentel, Deputy Speaker Rose Marie J. Arenas, Deputy Minority Leader Carlos T. Zarate, Laguna Rep. Marisol Aragones Sampelo, Gabriela Party-List Rep. Arlene D. Brosas, ACT-Teachers Party-List Rep. France L. Castro, Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia C. Cullamat, Kabataan Party-List Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago, Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand R. Gaite, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez, Occidental Mindoro Josephine Y. Ramirez-Sato, Parañaque Rep. Joy Myra S. Tambunting and Nueva Ecija Rep. Micaela S. Violago.
Meanwhile, three House leaders filed on Monday a resolution calling for an investigation on the alleged violations of ABS-CBN of its legislative franchises.
House Resolution (HR) 853 states that ABS-CBN violated its legislative franchise because it is operating a pay-per-view channel through free-to-air signals.
“By charging the public with its pay-per-view Kapamilya Box Office (KBO) channel through ABS-CBN TV Plus, it has been gaining huge profits at the expense of the public while using the air frequencies provided by the government for free,” it said.
Because of the issuance of ABS-CBN’s Philippine Depository Receipts (PDRs) to non-Filipino citizens through ABS-CBN Holdings, the media network allegedly violated foreign ownership restriction of mass media in Section 11, Article XVI of the Constitution, the resolution said.
HR 853 was filed by Deputy Speaker Paolo Z. Duterte, House accounts committee chair Abraham N. Tolentino, and House appropriations committee chair Eric G. Yap.
Mr. Rodriguez filed House Joint Resolution 30 that seeks to grant a provisional franchise to ABS-CBN to be able to operate until June 30, 2022.
Since ABS-CBN’s previous franchise expired on May 4, Mr. Rodriguez also filed House Bill No. 6694 to grant the media giant a new franchise for 25 years.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives Minority Leader Bienvenido M. Abante, Jr. filed House Bill 6701 seeking the abolition of the NTC for its alleged “defiance” to Congress over the franchise of ABS-CBN.
There are 11 pending House bills on ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal, but none have hurdled the committee level. — Genshen L. Espedido
