THE CHAIRMAN of the House Committee on Legislative Franchise on Monday announced that the panel would start accepting position papers from various stakeholders for or against the franchise renewal of broadcast network ABS-CBN.
Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez made the announcement as the committee began its preliminary proceedings on the bills seeking to renew the network’s operations for another 25 years.
“Tama po ‘yung proseso po, ‘yon nga pong pagtanggap ng mga lahat ng position papers. Alam naman po natin marami pong may position 'di ba po? Maraming anti, marami pong pro sa renewal (The process is correct to accept all the position papers. We all know that there are several positions, right?),” Alvarez said in a media interview.
“So tatanggapin na po natin ‘yan para mapag-aralan na ng committee at ma-review po lahat (There are many anti-, as well as pro-renewal. So we would accept [the papers] so that the committee can review everything),” he added.
Alvarez, however, noted that the hearing proper on the franchise bills would begin either in May or August.
The Senate public services committee held its first hearing on ABS-CBN’s franchise on Monday.
The Senate hearing will be conducted ahead of the House of Representatives’ deliberations on at least 11 pending bills that seek to extend ABS-CBN’s franchise for another 25 years.
Solicitor General Jose Calida has asked the Supreme Court to revoke ABS-CBN’s franchise due to its supposed violation of the 1987 Constitution when it allowed foreign ownership of the Philippine media entity.
Section 11(1), Article 16 of the 1987 Constitution states that ownership and management of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly-owned and managed by such citizens.
On Tuesday, Calida also called on SC to stop parties from issuing statements on the pending quo warranto suit against ABS-CBN’s franchise.(By Filane Mikee Cervantes)
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