Thirty-four years ago, when Martial Law was declared, state troops raided the ABS-CBN compound to close down the network. It was the last time ABS-CBN went off-air before tonight at 8pm, May 5. Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.’s dictatorial regime then used its wide reach to relay government propaganda.
Two days after World Press Freedom Day was observed, ABS-CBN has been ordered to stop its operations by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the government agency responsible for regulating and supervising radio and television stations. In a Cease-and-Desist Order dated May 5, 2020, NTC said that due to the expiration of its operating franchise, the network must stop its operations in both TV and radio.
Listed on the order are the network’s 42 television stations across the country, including Channel 2, 10 digital broadcast channels, 18 FM stations and 5 AM stations, including DZMM radio.
NTC cited the Radio Control Law which states that “no person, firm, company, association, or corporation shall construct, install, establish, or operate a radio transmitting station, or radio receiving station used for commercial purposes, or a radio broadcasting station, without having first obtained a franchise therefor from the Congress of the Philippines.”
“Upon the expiration of RA 7966, ABS-CBN no longer has a valid and subsisting congressional franchise as required by Act No. 3846,” NTC said in its order.
The NTC gave the network 10 days from receipt of the order to respond as to why the frequencies assigned to it should not be recalled.
READ: NTC's cease and desist order vs ABS-CBN | via @mikenavallo pic.twitter.com/otnCOZHaOj
— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) May 5, 2020
Threats before the NTC order
Solicitor-General Jose Calida warned NTC on Sunday, May 3, World Press Freedom Day, against granting a provisional authority to ABS-CBN. NTC could not grant provisional authorities to ABS-CBN Corporation, according to Calida, because it must first secure a congressional franchise.
The Defense Press Corps, the group of journalists covering the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines condemned Calida’s attempt “to intrude into a purely legislative power through the Supreme Court.”
“Calida’s attempt, while an overreach of his office’s function, is clearly a move to utilize the country’s laws as a tool for harassment and retribution,” it said in a statement.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines organized an online protest in reaction to the Cease-and-Desist Order, and asked the public to light candles to stand up against ABS-CBN’s closure.
In a released statement, NUJP described the action against ABS-CBN shows “what kind of government we have.”
“Even as our people battle a deadly pandemic, it carries out an underhanded assault on freedom of the press and of expression through a cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission against broadcast network ABS-CBN,” said NUJP in its statement.
“All this stems from President Rodrigo Duterte’s personal vendetta against the network, whose franchise renewal he pledged to block. It sends a clear message: What Duterte wants, Duterte gets. And it is clear, with this brazen move to shut down ABS-CBN, that he intends to silence the critical media and intimidate everyone else into submission,” the group added.
Duterte’s contempt for ABS-CBN
Duterte has repeatedly expressed his contempt for the network.
On April 27, 2017, Duterte claims that during the 2016 presidential campaign, the network failed to show his political ads. He told Congress the same day not to renew the network’s franchise.
On May 19, 2017, Duterte says he will file charges of “multiple syndicated estafa” against ABS-CBN for not airing his political advertisement and not returning more than P 2 million of what he paid.
The President threatened ABS-CBN, saying he will block ABS-CBN’s franchise. In a speech last December 03, 2019, Duterte says he is still angry with ABS-CBN. “If you expect that (the franchise) will be renewed, I’m sorry. I will see to it that you’re out.” he reiterated. He told the network to sell their company before the end of 2019.
Following NTC’s order, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque says Malacañang will defer to whatever decision the NTC will make as to whether ABS-CBN could still operate since the president has accepted ABS-CBN’s apology in February.
In a Senate hearing on the network’s alleged franchise violations on February 24, ABS-CBN President Carlo Katigbak apologized for not being able to air Duterte’s ads. This was due to a “first come, first served” policy that bumped off Duterte’s ads that were still seeking permits to air. ABS-CBN was in the process of refunding Duterte, with a balance of P 2.6 million to be paid him when he accused the network of estafa.
Despite Duterte saying he accepted the apology in February, he said he cannot stop the government’s lawyer, Calida, in his quo warranto petition against ABS-CBN.
ABS-CBN and its subsidiaries have over 11,000 employees.
The Philippines, rated 136th out of 180 countries in the 2020 Global Press Freedom Index, is stated to have state troll armies uses social media to spread wrong information and intolerance to independent journalism.
