While some are inclined to thank the Congress for pushing a legislation for a 5-month provisional franchise for ABS-CBN, some warned that this is merely putting ABS-CBN on a tight leash and thought this as a face-saving maneuver of Congress.
House Speaker and Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano sponsored House Bill 6732 that would allow ABS-CBN to operate until October 31. This was fast-tracked and approved by the House Committee on the Whole and then approved in second reading. It will be presented on the floor for third and final reading when the session resumes on Monday, May 18. It would then be transmitted to Senate and to President Rodrigo Duterte for his signature for it to become law or lapse into law if not acted on 30 days after receipt.
UP Diliman College of Mass Communication Prof. Danilo Arao said the provisional franchise has a permanent chilling effect.
“A five-month provisional franchise seeks to put ABS-CBN on a short and tight leash. This further weaponizes the law to repress the media. The chilling effect is clear,” said Arao.
The journalism educator and writer said the demand for the 25-year franchise renewal remains.
“With a provisional franchise, the powers-that-be achieve (1) a face-saving measure amid public outcry; and (2) a control mechanism amid chilling effect. The tyrant sends a warning to ABS-CBN and other news media organizations,” said Arao.
College of Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) Metro Manila chapter agreed that Cayetano’s move is “an attempt to save face.”
“This provisional franchise is merely Cayetano saving face after the blame game he played with Solicitor General Jose Calida and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). All three of them conveniently served as Duterte’s scapegoats. It is an attempt also to turn around their negative public image on the issue,” said CEGP Metro Manila.
They said that Congress should have instead tackled the 25-year franchise extension as it would go through the same process as the 5-month provisional franchise.
“It is also an attempt to paint them the hero when ABS-CBN goes back on air and hopefully bury the issue and the criticism. But even this provisional franchise has a lot of processes to go through – the same if they would tackle the 25-year franchise extension itself—and would take time. It also needed to go through the Senate and for Duterte’s signature to approve a stunted franchise,” said the group.
They also said that no thanks is in order for Congress for its move to give a 5-month provisional franchise for ABS-CBN.
“This is hardly Congress doing their job as pending legislations for ABS-CBN’s franchise—11 to date—has been sitting in the dust for three years or since Duterte came to the presidency cursing and rambling against the network. No thanks or commendations are in order for them as they are still not doing what they should have done long ago,” said the alliance of campus publications in the National Capital Region.
The group also hit against Cayetano’s statement that this is not an issue of press freedom since ABS-CBN was able to continue their reporting online.
“This statement is glossing over the fact that the medium of television and radio, for which ABS-CBN applied and maintained a franchise over 50 years, has the highest penetration in the country, especially in many areas still not reached by the internet. That TV, as a mass medium, remains as the main source of news of the Filipino people, reaching millions and millions at the same time,” said CEGP Metro Manila.
The group also said “the statement that this is not an issue of press freedom further tramples on press freedom as it obfuscates and chips away at this hard-won liberty.”
“Press freedom is a right, a civil liberty that is not to be pitted and then squashed in preference of some other rule or law. The business side of the franchise or legal issues has been used to take away a network’s main channel of communication when it could have been given a chance to rectify any wrongs as allowable (and even for this particular instance it has been established the franchise had no violations). Instead, they were put out,” said the group in its statement.
The group also said the scariest thing to come about in this issue “is finding out that the politicians and government officials who follow Cayetano’s reasoning do not understand press freedom” as they “would also be hard-pressed to truly understand and practice democracy.”
“In many instances during this lockdown, many government officials have demonstrated their privileges and the double standards demanded by them and accorded to them. And how the law, how harsh it may be, does not apply when they are at fault,” said the group.
Cayetano, the top leader of the Lower House, said they will need time to deliberate on the allegations against ABS-CBN as he cannot just “in good conscience, sweep the accusations under the rug and proceed as if nothing happened.”
Anakbayan Metro Manila said, “there is impending doom surrounding an Alan Peter Cayetano statement that they will hear the allegations.”
“He held hearings in a record-breaking year long probe of then Vice President Jejomar Binay. He then spoke of bias when the same thing he did was done to Duterte in the EJK probe by De Lima. Rules change in his favor even when he was not yet the top leader of any of these chambers of Congress. Now, we don’t even remember what the hell even resulted in his probe versus Binay, other than pulling down Binay’s chances in the then-upcoming elections,” said the group.
In his sponsorship speech, Cayetano said, “Through this measure that we have filed today, and I am now sponsoring, we will provide ABS-CBN with a provisional franchise valid for Oct. 31, 2020, within which time both the House of Representatives and the Senate will hear the issues being raised for and against the renewal and assess, with complete impartiality and fairness, whether or not the network shall be granted a franchise for another 25 years.”
He added that the bills must be put through “fair and impartial” hearings because the ABS-CBN faces “grave issues” and had been accused of violating labor, tax and constitutional laws.
Senate’s hearing in February established ABS-CBN’s franchise did not commit violations.
The Lower House would then follow with a hearing in March, only a few days before it adjourned from March 14 to May 4, in the face of mounting public pressure. Time had run out for the franchise but the Lower House had not deliberated 11 pending legislations for it for as long as three years.
