AS the House Committee on Legislative Franchises is expected to decide soon on the bills granting ABS-CBN a franchise, the leadership of the House of Representatives vowed to vote based on facts presented by both those pro and against the TV network.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said the relevant laws and public policy will be carefully considered by committee members during the voting process, but reiterated that the network’s franchise is not just about an issue of press freedom.
“The time has come for us to make a decision. A decision that would hinge on facts, public policy and existing law. Juxtaposed to issues that go to the core of our democracy,” said Cayetano.
Legislative Franchises Chairman Rep. Franz Alvarez has created a technical working group to study and draft the recommendations on the application for franchise of ABS-CBN. The franchise hearing will resume on Friday.
Lawmakers are eyeing to vote on the ABS-CBN franchise on Friday.
“As we approach the final and most critical part of the deliberation, we call on our members to base their decision on their appreciation of the facts and testimonies presented by both sides,” said Alvarez.
Earlier, Cayetano had also urged colleagues to cast a “conscience vote” in line with the ABS-CBN franchise bill.
Moreover, the Speaker said press freedom and the grant of a legislative franchise to ABS-CBN are separate issues.
“We all agree that freedom of the press must be protected. But, as these hearings have shown, we disagree from whom and how. We will all agree on the basic premise that big business, conjoined with commercial media, should not be allowed to engage in partisan politics by wielding its power to protect their interest, meddle and interfere in elections, and surreptitiously support certain candidates in the guise of reporting the news,” he said.
Business as kingmaker
“How shall we decide on claims that it will be a blow to press freedom if the owners of a private media corporation [are] denied the privilege of using public airwaves for a private business that protects their interest and supports their handpicked candidates, while targeting those who oppose them? I submit that this is not press freedom. It is the theft of government from the people while hiding under the pretense of freedom of the press,” he added.
In 2016, then Senator Cayetano filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) against a controversial ad made by former Senator Antonio Trillanes. The ad showed children reacting to some of then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial remarks and acts. The former senator and now House Speaker was able to secure a TRO against the negative political advertisement against Duterte, alongside whom he ran for the vice presidency.
“The use of media for propaganda is not a new concept. We were victims of it during the years of the dictatorship and it has left deep scars of distrust in our views of the relationship between government and the media industry. But even as we guard against the abuses of public officials, the peculiar and sacred place that the ’free press’ holds in our consciousness blinds us to the fact that big business is just as likely to use media to mold public opinions and perceptions as the meanest tyrant,” he added.
“These hearings, despite the unfair and unwarranted attacks it has elicited both from the supporters and haters of ABS-CBN, has afforded the nation with a rare glimpse on the fragility of our democracy. Of how the very pillars that we thought were holding it up were merely façades that hid the ugly, selfish side of our political system. An elitist system that sadly still favors and protects those whose days are spent behind gated subdivisions, while casting to the wind those Filipinos who have to scrounge for the very walls that make up their homes,” Cayetano said.
Special privilege
For his part, Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, citing the Supreme Court in a case, said “a legislative franchise is a special privilege granted by the state to corporations.
“It is a privilege of public concern which cannot be exercised at will and pleasure, but should be reserved for public control and administration, either by the government directly, or by public agents, under such conditions and regulations as the government may impose on them in the interest of the public,” Romualdez said.
“It is Congress that prescribes the conditions on which the grant of the franchise may be made. Thus, the manner of granting the franchise, to whom it may be granted, the mode of conducting the business, the charter and the quality of the service to be rendered and the duty of the grantee to the public in exercising the franchise, are almost always defined in clear and unequivocal language,” he added.
8 major issues
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman reiterated that the ABS-CBN Corp. will sweep all the eight major issues in favor of the granting of the franchise.
“My scorecard shows an 8-0 sweep of the major issues in favor of ABS-CBN Corporation’s franchise renewal. This is my personal assessment of the outcome of the lengthy and grueling hearings conducted by the joint committees on legislative franchises and good government,” he said.
Lagman, citing his scorecard on the eight major issues, said Gabby Lopez is a natural-born Filipino citizen, although he has dual citizenship as an American by accident of his place of birth in the United States which adopts the principle of jus soli.
“With respect to the 100-percent Filipino capitalization and management of mass media, the Constitution does not distinguish between a Filipino of single citizenship and a Filipino with dual citizenship. We must not also distinguish,” he said.
However, Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta asserted that Gabby Lopez is an American citizen, saying there is no evidence that Lopez’s parents were still Filipino when he was born in 1952 in America.
On the issuance of Philippine Deposit Receipts (PDRs), Lagman said with ABS-CBN’s underlying shares, this refers to instruments of investment, not transfer of stock ownership or participation in management. Lagman stressed the constitutional requirement of 100-percent Filipino capitalization and ownership of mass media is not violated by such PDRs.
“Corporations which have been operating for more than 50 years are not disqualified from being granted a renewal or a new franchise,” Lagman added.
“There is no constitutional provision or statute which prohibits the renewal or grant of legislative franchises to corporations which have been in operation for more than half a century. These time-tested corporations have achieved adequate experience and relevant expertise, aside from having invested millions of pesos in their businesses,” Lagman said.
Marcoleta insisted, however, that ABS-CBN has violated the constitutional restriction on foreign ownership and participation when it sold 187 million PDRs to foreigners.
“Said [PDR] holders are deemed beneficial owners of underlying stocks of ABS-CBN with corporate-control enhancing mechanism that can influence the major corporate actions that management may institute,” Marcoleta said.
Also, Lagman said the 50-year limitation in the Constitution for a legislative franchise only means that there must be a cap of not more than 50 years for each franchise that Congress can issue at a time.
“Corporations, like wine, become better due to the passage of time. The Constitution did not envision or intend that the badge of inutility must attach to corporations which have reached the golden age,” he said.
After the Edsa People Power Revolution, Lagman said the Lopez family lawfully and deservedly reacquired ABS-CBN network after it was illegally confiscated and its facilities used without compensation during the martial-law regime.
“The reacquisition was authorized by legal issuances from the Office of the President, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Supreme Court,” he said.
On the tax-evasion issue, Lagman said the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and other agencies have certified that ABS-CBN has no unpaid taxes, tariffs and/or fees.
For his part, Marcoleta said it was proved that ABS-CBN and its subsidiaries engaged in complex schemes to unjustly avoid paying taxes or unconscionably reduce the taxes due to the government.
Labor issues
Also, Lagman said ABS-CBN Corp. has complied with labor decisions which may have become final and executory, and will abide with other decisions of labor and judicial tribunals which will subsequently become final and executory.
“The more important labor issue is the displacement of more than 11,000 employees and workers of ABS-CBN and its affiliates consequent to the non-renewal of its franchise,” he said.
Lagman added the adoption by ABS-CBN of its TVPlus and other innovative devices and programs is consistent with government’s mandate for digital migration, thus authorizing TV networks to operate multiple channels.
“Neither did its expired franchise nor any law prohibit ABS-CBN’s offering of pay-per-view services,” he said.
However, Marcoleta said during the hearings it was also proved without doubt that ABS-CBN violated its franchise by airing multiple channels through TVPlus. “It was also proved that it sold digital receivers of blackboxes to the viewing public without the approval of NTC.”
On the related issues on “biased reporting” and “meddling in politics,” Lagman said these are actually non-issues because critical commentary, reasonable preference, and even incidental bias of TV and radio networks are fully protected by the expansive veil of freedom of the press and free speech. It is tolerable and not censurable.
Meanwhile, Marcoleta said it is high time that the sovereignty of the airwaves be restored to the people, “the one who will finally decide to whom and when to grant this special privilege called franchise.”
“If ABS-CBN wants to be in the service of the Filipino people, it should stop mixing up its economic objectives with the simple aspirations of the ordinary citizens. These two are different and poles apart,” he added.