At least 91 solons signed reso for House panel action on ABS-CBN franchise bills —Lagman

At least 91 congressmen have already signed the resolution urging the House Committee on Legislative Franchises to immediately act on the pending bills seeking to renew the franchise of ABS-CBN Corporation, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said Monday.

In House Resolution 639, the House legislative franchises panel is urged to "report out without further delay for plenary action" a consolidated version of the 11 pending bills proposing for the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise for another 25 years.

Lagman, in a press conference, said eight of the 91 lawmakers who signed the resolution are deputy speakers, with another one is expected to sign within the day.

A total of 21 committee chairpersons have also signed the resolution, 12 are members of the Committee on Rules, and 65 are members of the so-called "Supermajority" bloc, he added.

Lagman also said that he would likewise endorse a motion to discharge the pending bills from the House legislative franchises panel if there are still no hearings to deliberate them.

"I don't want to rock the boat in the House, but if the foot-dragging would continue, then I would endorse that because the number of signatories to the resolution is more than the required one-fifth of the membership of the House to move to discharge," he said.

"What is needed is only 60, one-fifth of 302 or 303 is 60.4. Yung 91 is way above the requisite of one-fifth [of members]," he added.

According to the resolution, the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise is "inextricably" linked to the exercise of press freedom, but none of the 11 bills calling for its renewal have been acted upon by the Committee on Legislative Franchises and no single hearing has been held "possibly due to President [Rodrigo] Duterte's object to subject renewal."

"The freedom of the press is corollary to the people's right to information and the decimation of press freedom amounts to the demise of the people's right to know," the resolution read.

"It is of critical immediacy for the leadership and membership of the House of Representatives to uphold and respect the freedom of the press as an indispensable component of the freedom of expression and free speech," it added.

House Committee on Legislative Franchises vice chairman Tonypet Albano, however, assured that ABS-CBN will have its "time and day" at the chamber for the deliberation of the measures seeking for the renewal of its franchise.

"There will be a proper time and timing for ABS-CBN to be heard in the Franchise committee with the intentions of having a thorough, fair and honest-to-good hearing," he said.

"We intend to give ABS-CBN its intended 'time and day' to answer all the critics, and to debate thoroughly on the merits of the case at hand, in order to make sure that the committee report is not only fair, but good for all stakeholders," he added.

Albano also said that although ABS-CBN's franchise is expiring on March 30, Congress has enough time to discuss it within the whole term of the 18th Congress, up to June 30, 2022, due to the pendency of the bills seeking for the renewal of its franchise.

Lagman has written a letter to Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez to ask them to hold regular sessions on February 27, March 5 and March 12—all Thursdays—to allow them to deliberate and approve additional measures before they go on a Lenten break on March 13.

The House normally does not conduct sessions on Thursday to allow lawmakers to do constituency duties in their respective legislative districts.

The House leadership has yet to respond to the letter, Lagman noted. —LDF/BM, GMA News