ABS-CBN FRANCHISE | Lawmaker files measure to renew ABS-CBN franchise for another 25 years

January 18, 2021 , 08:23 PM

(January 18, 2021) – A former movie star-turned-politician has filed a measure seeking to grant a new legislative franchise to what used to be the country’s largest broadcast corporation, only six months after allies of the president denied a franchise renewal.

Batangas Congresswoman Vilma Santos-Recto also sought to restart congressional hearings on ABS-CBN’s new franchise after a similar measure was filed at the upper house by Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

“Despite the growing popularity of social media, television still remains as a preferred mass medium in our provinces and other far-flung areas. ABS-CBN has remained steadfast in its commitment to reach out to as many Filipinos as possible by delivering their quality core programs closer to our countrymen by taking advantage of emerging broadcast technologies,” Santos-Recto wrote in her bill.

JUST IN | Inihain ni Deputy Speaker Vilma Santos-Recto ang House Bill No. 8298 para sa renewal ng prangkisa ng ABS-CBN Corp. | via Ria Fernandez

Posted by News5 on Monday, January 18, 2021

ABS-CBN was forced to go off the air in May 2020 after the regulatory agency National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease-and-desist order against the company when its franchise expired.

In July, a House panel threw out its franchise renewal application, shutting down the network and laying off thousands of workers.

But it continued to broadcast through various social media platforms and later, its entertainment shows at another television channel.

Santos-Recto believed the network, as a huge media conglomerate in the country, can do so much in providing the necessary information to the public during the pandemic.

In previous months, advocacy groups lamented the information gap left by ABS-CBN’s absence on national television at the height of the successive typhoons that hit the country toward the end of the year.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies in the lower house criticized Sotto’s earlier move of filing a similar measure, which they believed goes against the specific rules stipulated in the Constitution. Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor, one of the 70 lawmakers who denied ABS-CBN’s franchise, was among them.

“I would think bago mangyari ‘yung sinasabi nilang mag-file sila, dapat makita muna nila kung ano ginawa sa Kongreso at dapat ibatay kung ano ‘yung pag-uusap, pag-aamyenda, kung meron man silang babaguhin, sa ginawa ng Kongreso,” Defensor had said.

(Beatrice Puente/MM)

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