By Joel R. San Juan & Butch Fernandez
THE Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to issue a gag order enjoining television giant ABS-CBN Corp. and its subsidiary ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc. from issuing statements in connection with the quo warranto petition that it filed seeking the revocation of the companies legislative franchises.
The OSG’s motion was immediately discussed in Tuesday’s regular en banc session by the 15-man High Tribunal.
As a result, SC spokesman-lawyer Brian Keith Hosaka announced that the Court issued an order directing ABS-CBN and its subsidiary to comment within five days on the motion for the issuance of a gag order filed by the OSG.
“The motion is basically asking the SC for the issuance of an order prohibiting both parties from engaging media and from issuing statements relative to the merits of the case,” Hosaka said.
“In accordance with the due process of the law, the Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the respondents ABS-CBN Corp and ABS-CBN Convergence Inc. to file their respective comments to the motion filed by the Office of the Solicitor General within a non-extendible period of five days from receipt of notice,” he added.
In its very urgent motion, Solicitor General Jose Calida accused the respondents of engaging in propaganda “to elicit public sympathy, sway public opinion, and, ultimately, to influence the resolution of the case.”
Senators deplore move
Senators lamented apparent moves by the OSG to “gag” witnesses in an upcoming Senate inquiry into the Duterte administration’s alleged plot to shut down ABS-CBN.
This, even as Senator Grace Poe, who chairs the inquiry to be conducted by the Committee on Public Services, affirmed the senators’ mandate to conduct the hearing set for February 27.
“Our hearing will push through according to our Constitutional mandate,” said Poe, leaving it up to the Supreme Court to “act on that (SolGen) motion under existing laws and jurisprudence where it recognized the jurisdiction of its co-equal branch.”
In a separate statement, Senator Panfilo Lacson aired hopes that the Senate, exercising its mandate, will be spared.
“I hope the Supreme Court will not include the Senate or any of its committees in the gag order, if issued as petitioned by the Solicitor General, in deference to the settled jurisprudence that tackled similar issues in the past,” Lacson said on Tuesday.
He, however, noted that such an order may have a chilling effect on witnesses called to testify at the Senate hearing set for February 27 by the Committee on Public Services.
Lacson said “what may be covered, though, are the resource persons who will be invited to shed light on this instant case involving the franchise of ABS-CBN as they are not exempt from the sub judice rule, which covers litigants and witnesses, members of the bar and the public in general.”
“Thus, they may run the risk of being cited for contempt once they express their opinions that might pose a clear and present danger in the administration of justice by directly influencing the members of the Court in rendering their votes to resolve the pending petition for quo warranto,” Lacson added.
Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon, a former Secretary of Justice, maintained that the SolGen’s move to “gag” ABS-CBN, a day after the Senate agreed to conduct a hearing on the proposed franchise renewal, would not prohibit senators from requiring witnesses to appear and testify before Public Services Committee. “The Supreme Court cannot prohibit persons to appear and testify before congressional inquiries in aid of legislation,” said Drilon.
He recalled that the Solicitor General’s petition seeking a gag order was filed immediately after Poe’s committee decided to hear the application for the renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN and the resolution that Drilon filed, extending the validity of the franchise of the broadcasting network until the end of 2022 as the existing 25-year franchise of ABS-CBN is set to expire on March 30, 2020.
The Senate Minority Leader added that even if the Supreme Court issues a gag order, it will not cover the hearings in the Senate. “Such gag order, if ordered, cannot serve as a prohibition for ABS-CBN to appear and testify before the Senate panel.”
He asserted that the Constitution and various jurisprudence have many times upheld the power of the Senate to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation and to exercise its oversight power, citing Section 21, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution which provides the Senate or the House of Representatives or any of its respective committees may conduct inquiries in aid of legislation in accordance with its duly published rules of procedure.
Drilon cited Senate Blue Ribbon Committee v. Judge Majaducun (GR 136760), where the Supreme Court categorically stated that, “no court has the authority to prohibit the Committee from requiring respondent to appear and testify before it.”
The same, said Drilon, was the ruling in Romero vs. Estrada (GR 174105) where the court held that “(it) has no authority to prohibit a senate committee from requiring persons to appear and testify before it in connection with an inquiry in aid of legislation.”
Quo warranto filed
The OSG filed a quo warranto petition before the SC last last February 10 seeking the forfeiture of ABS-CBN Corporation’s legislative franchise and that of its subsidiary ABS-CBN Convergence Inc.
Calida accused the company of being engaged in broadcasting for a fee, which is beyond the scope of its legislative franchise.
Calida added that the television network has been allowing foreign investors to take part in the ownership of a Philippine mass media entity, in gross violation of the foreign interest restriction of mass media provided under Section 11, Article XVI of the Constitution.
Calida said the network’s management also violated its franchise when it launched and operated a pay-per-view channel in ABS-CBN TV Plus, the KBO Channel, without prior approval or permit from the National Telecommunications Commission.
With regard to its subsidiary, ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc. (formerly Multi-Media Telepony, Inc.), the government accused the latter of resorting to corporate layering schemes in order to transfer its franchise without the necessary congressional approval.
The OSG’s motion cited several news, commentaries, interviews and statements from the network which tend to influence the outcome of the resolution of the petition.
“The Supreme Court has ruled that justices and judges are not immune from the pervasive effects of media. Respondents belong to the biggest media conglomerate in the country whose artists and talents, impervious to the law, freely publish their comments,” Calida pointed out.
“We want a gag order to be issued in this case so that facts can be decided upon evidence produced in court, and that the determination of such facts should be uninfluenced by bias, prejudice, or sympathies,” the chief government counsel added.