THE Supreme Court on Tuesday junked the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida seeking the forfeiture of television giant ABS-CBN Corp.’s legislative franchise and its subsidiary ABS-CBN Convergence Inc.
SC spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said the quo warranto petition was dismissed for being moot.
Hosaka, however, said the decision covered only ABS-CBN Corp. and the case is still pending insofar as its subsidiary is concerned.
“I was able to confirm with Chief Justice Peralta that the Supreme Court dismissed today during the en banc meeting the quo warranto petition filed by the Solicitor General against ABS-CBN Corp. on the ground of mootness,” Hosaka told reporters in a text message.
“The case against respondents ABS-CBN Convergence Inc. remains pending. Let us wait for the resolution of the Court on this matter, as for the reason of their action,” he added.
ABS-CBN Corp.’s franchise expired on May 4 after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) decided not to issue a provisional authority so the television network can keep operating pending the approval of its application for the renewal of its franchise by Congress.
ABS-CBN Corp. has been barred from continuing its television and broadcast operations by virtue of a cease-and-desist order issued by the NTC on May 5.
In its quo warranto petition, 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.
He also accused the network’s management of violating 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 Telephony Inc.), the chief government counsel accused the company of resorting to a corporate layering scheme in order to transfer its franchise without the requisite congressional approval.
“We want to put an end to what we discovered to be highly abusive practices of ABS-CBN benefitting a greedy few at the expense of millions of its loyal subscribers. These practices have gone unnoticed or were disregarded for years,” Calida earlier said in justifying the filing of the petition.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila