FORMER Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile told the House of Representatives that the ownership of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. stayed with the Lopez family even after the sequestration of the TV network during the administration of former President Ferdinand Marcos.
At the hearing on ABS-CBN’s franchise, Enrile admitted that the title of the ABS-CBN was never transferred to the government. Enrile executed the sequestration order for all broadcast companies, including ABS-CBN, during martial law in 1972.
“The facilities of the entire ABS-CBN complex, broadcast complex, were placed under the control of the government. The title of all of these facilities was never transferred to the government. They remained with the owners,” Enrile said.
“What Jake Almeda Lopez said about President Marcos taking away ABS-CBN from them is not true,” he said. Almeda Lopez told lawmakers that ABS-CBN was not returned, but the network had to retrieve their station themselves in 1986.
“In 1986, to be exact it was February 26, I, as Secretary of National Defense and sequestrator of ABS-CBN and all the other television, radio and communication facilities in the country, issued an order to lift the sequestration of ABS-CBN,” Enrile said.
Also, Atty. Arecio Rendor Jr. said ABS-CBN stood by the legality of the return of ABS-CBN broadcast facilities to the Lopez family, as it never lost ownership of the network even during martial law.
Rendor, who was involved in the arbitration case of ABS-CBN to recover its properties, added that the return of real estate and broadcast facilities after the Edsa Revolution to the Lopezes underwent due process.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said there is no constitutional provision in the 1987 Constitution which was violated when the premises, facilities and operations of ABS-CBN were returned in 1986.
“The ownership of the Lopez family of ABS-CBN has long been established, even before the declaration of Martial Law, and this unchallenged ownership continued up to the post-Edsa People Power Revolution,” he said.
“Since the Lopez family as majority owners of ABS-CBN is the aggrieved party, it stands to reason that it should be the one to be compensated for the illegal seizure of ABS-CBN during martial law and the short takeover of the same by the Ramos-Enrile forces in the aftermath of the Edsa People Power Revolution, which latter brief takeover was subsequently permitted by the Lopez family only for the duration of the ‘crisis’ or ‘emergency,’” he added.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila
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