Bill reviving ABS-CBN franchise filed at House

A bill granting ABS-CBN Corporation a franchise to operate television and radio broadcasting stations in the Philippines has been filed at the House of Representatives.

House ways and means panel chairperson Joey Salceda made the said proposal under House Bill 11252 on Tuesday. That's more than four years after the same House Committee on Legislative Franchises denied ABS-CBN’s franchise bid in June 2020 due to supposed violations.

"I filed House Bill No. 11252 renewing the ABS-CBN franchise for another 25 years because I believe that the free market of ideas requires competition. A virtual monopoly will not do as far as disseminating ideas and keeping the public informed is concerned," Salceda said.

Salceda also said that during the House deliberations on the ABS-CBN’s franchise bid in 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) both testified that ABS-CBN did not violate ownership restrictions and did not have pending tax liabilities.

“Given the merits of renewing the franchise, as well as the clarifications made by government agencies over certain allegations against the grantee, this representation urges Congress to reconsider the non-renewal of the franchise by the previous Congress,” Salceda said in his explanatory note.

“In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is urgently sought,” Salceda added.
 

In a statement on Tuesday, the broadcast network thanked Salceda and other lawmakers for their support. "While we were not aware of Rep. Joey Salceda's filing of a bill to grant a broadcast franchise to ABS-CBN today, we are deeply grateful for his support and belief in ABS-CBN's contributions and mission to serve the Filipino public," ABS-CBN's Integrated Corporate Communications said.

"We would also like to express our sincerest thanks to Reps. Gabriel Bordado Jr., Arlene Brosas, France Castro, Raoul Manuel, Johnny Pimentel, and Rufus Rodriguex, who have previously filed similar bills."

'Violations'

In 2020, the Technical Working Group report said ABS-CBN violated its old franchise, described by the panel as a privilege, because of the following reasons: its former Chairman Eugenio Lopez III was both a Filipino and American citizen, the issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts supposedly favoring foreigners, inappropriate program content, meddling in politics, tax avoidance schemes; less than exemplary labor practices, among others.

The TWG also said ABS-CBN cannot invoke the freedom of the press in justifying its franchise application.

“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. 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,” the Committee Resolution read.

ABS-CBN went off the air on May 5, 2020 after the National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease and desist against the network for lack of franchise. —VAL/BM, GMA Integrated News