Some 15 senators, led by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, have expressed their support for the renewal of the ABS-CBN Corporation’s franchise.
Aside from Sotto, also backing the renewal of the franchise include co-authors of Senate Bill No. 1967 Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senator Panfilo Lacson, Senator Sonny Angara, Senator Nancy Binay, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Senator Richard Gordon, Senator Lito Lapid, Senator Manny Pacquiao, Senator Joel Villanueva, Senator Risa Hontiveros, Senator Francis Pangilinan, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Senator Leila De Lima
The bill authored by Sotto seeks to give the broadcasting network another 25-year franchise.
Pangilinan, meanwhile, has rallied behind moves to grant ABS-CBN a new 25-year franchise, saying that the nation has seen is importance during the occurrence of calamities the past months.
Pangilinan said the country depend on ib radio and TV for information to ensure their ‘safety.’
Pangilinan said part of the reason that the pandemic has not been put under control in the Philippines is the lack of an information network that gives accurate and timely facts and stories to help people make sound decisions.
The senator said that he has always been supportive in granting ABS-CBN its franchise. In 2019, he co-authored Senate Bill 1521 which seeks to grant provisional franchise to ABS-CBN until June 30, 2022.
Co-sponsors included Senators Sonny Angara, Ma. Lourdes Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Franklin Drilon, Win Gatchalian, Leila De Lima, Risa Hontiveros, Manuel Lapid, Emmanuel Pacquiao, Ralph Recto, Joel Villanueva, and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
“Deserve nating lahat ang tamang impormasyon. Ibalik ang trabaho ng mga kawani ng ABS-CBN. Bigyan ng franchise ang ABS-CBN,” Pangilinan said.
Franchise bills, however, must originate from the House of Representatives before it can be tackled in the Senate.
Sotto said he is optimistic that his bill has better chances of passing as the House recently had a change in leadership.
The House committee on legislative franchises, during the speakership of Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano, thumbed down the application of ABS-CBN for franchise renewal last year.
Cayetano has been replaced by Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco, another ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, last October.
“Nothing stops a congressman from filing a new franchise bill again” under the 18th Congress, according to Sotto.
Deputy Speaker Lito Atienza, meanwhile, said that the shorter route to reopen the House deliberations on the ABS-CBN franchise renewal is to move for the reconsideration of the denial of the network’s application back in July last year.
Taking a cue from Sotto’s bill, deputy Speaker Vilma Santos-Recto said she will file next week a fresh counterpart measure in the House.
However, Anakalusugan party-list Representative Mike Defensor, who serves as vice chair of the franchise panel, said all the previous measures for the ABS-CBN franchise renewal must first be withdrawn before a new one may be filed and the deliberations may be reopened.
According to Defensor, when the committee decided to deny the franchise application of ABS-CBN, the measures proposing it were simply “laid on the table” or set aside, and they have not been junked altogether.
At least 12 bills were filed at the House during the 18th Congress to extend the franchise of ABS-CBN for another 25 years.
Drilon and Recto earlier said the House move will likely depend on Duterte’s decision.
But the Palace had said only Congress can grant a franchise to a broadcast company.
ABS-CBN’s franchise lapsed on May 4, 2020. It went off air the following day after the National Telecommunications Commission ordered the company to stop its broadcast operations.
