Opposition lawmakers on Monday did not discount the possibility that President Rodrigo Duterte was behind the decision of the House of Representatives panel that rejected the application for renewal of the franchise to operate of ABS-CBN Corp.
Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay, Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna party-list and Lito Atienza of Buhay party-list all cited the President's State of the Nation Address last week as an indication of their opinion.
"The President's hand (in ABS-CBN franchise denial) became evident in his SONA when he attacked the Lopezes. Now the cat has come out of the bag," Lagman said.
Zarate, a deputy minority leader, echoed Lagman's view, as he refused to buy the Palace's defense that the President had nothing to do with the rejection of the ABS-CBN franchise renewal application and that the Chief Executive was neutral on the issue.
"It is now clear that he was really not neutral on the ABS-CBN franchise issue. Duterte really wanted to shut down the network and his allies in Congress followed his will," Zarate said.
Lagman also pointed out Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano's alleged bias against the giant network.
"Speaker Cayetano's bias against ABS-CBN was subservience to the President's wishes. Again, ABS-CBN's bid for a fresh franchise was consigned to the dustbin for malevolent motives exposing the pretence of 'neutrality' and 'fair play' by the Duterte administration and the House leadership," Lagman added.
Atienza, for his part, said: "The Speaker will have a lot to explain one day. It may not be today but later on this issue would hound him because this is on him."
In his fifth SONA last week, Duterte started his address by attacking the Lopez family, branding the owners of ABS-CBN as oligarchs, just weeks after his allies in the House voted to deny its bid for a new broadcast franchise.
Less than five minutes into his annual report to the Filipino nation, Duterte claimed that he was a "casualty" of the Lopez clan during the 2016 elections, when he won the presidency by a plurality.
"Great wealth enables economic elites and corporations to influence public policy to their advantage. Media is a powerful tool in the hands of oligarchs like the Lopezes who used their media outlets in their battles with political figures," the President said in his address.
Duterte had repeatedly made public his opposition to the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise and even warned the Lopezes recently to just sell their shares.
The President accused the network in April 2017 of "swindling" him for not airing his paid political advertisements during the 2016 presidential campaign, saying it instead aired a negative ad paid for by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, one of his staunchest critics.
Last February, ABS-CBN Corp. chief executive officer Carlo L. Katigbak apologized in a Senate hearing, saying the network was sorry if that offended Duterte as he denied insinuations of bias.
Duterte accepted Katigbak's apology but clarified that he would leave the fate of ABS-CBN's franchise to Congress.
