THE SENATE on Tuesday, Aug. 22, approved on third and final reading several bills that would renew for another 25 years the franchises of eight radio and television broadcasting corporations. These include Subic Broadcasting Corp., Iloilo Baptist Church, Inc., Pangasinan Gulf Waves Network, Corp., Infocom Communications Network, Filipinas Broadcasting Association, Inc., Beta Broadcasting System, Inc., Sarraga Integrated Management Corp. of the Philippines, and Gateway Television Broadcasting, Inc. Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services, said the franchises would include the same reforms and amendments introduced with the recently passed franchises of GMA-7 and Smart Communications, Inc. Under the new amendments, Ms. Poe said the franchisees are now required “to provide, free of charge, adequate public service time to enable the government to reach pertinent populations.” The bills also mandated the franchisees to comply with labor standards and pertinent tax laws, and included a provision on compliance with mobile number portability standards in the future.

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