PCIJ says Congress can't wash hands of ABS-CBN shutdown

Congress cannot wash its hands of the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) order for ABS-CBN Corp. to cease operations after the lapse of its legislative franchise, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) said Wednesday.

The PCIJ said that Congress, which has the exclusive power to act on legislative franchises, “had the whole time to deliberate” on several bills seeking to renew ABS-CBN’s franchise but failed to do so.

“While Congress professed surprise and reacted with anger at what it saw as the NTC's disregard for its sovereign authority to decide on franchises, it cannot wash its hands of this travesty,” PCIJ  said in a statement.

Beyond Congress, however, the “ultimate responsibility for the silencing of ABS-CBN” lies in the hands of President Rodrigo Duterte, the PCIJ added.

“Irked by the network's failure – since explained – to air his ads during the 2016 presidential campaign, he personally and repeatedly vowed in public to block the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise,” PCIJ said. “And now ABS-CBN has gone dark. The message is clear: What Duterte wants, Duterte gets.”

ABS-CBN went off the air on Tuesday night in compliance with the NTC order.

The last time the broadcast network was forced shut was during martial law in 1972.

Congress told to hurry up

In a statement, reporters covering Malacañang on Wednesday urged Congress to expedite the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN which went off air after its legislative license expired early this week.

“We  urge  the  members  of  Congress  to  act  with  dispatch  on  the  application  of  ABS-CBN. We  hope  that  the  members  of  Congress  will  vote  with  their  conscience and  principles,” the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) said in a statement.

The MPC also slammed the order by the NTC Tuesday for ABS-CBN to cease operations, a reversal of the agency’s previous commitment that it would issue a provisional authority to the network and its subsidiaries to operate while lawmakers are deliberating on the franchise bills.

“We  demand  that  the  NTC  honor  its  commitment  to  Congress  to  issue  a  provisional  authority  to ABS-CBN  and  to  leave  the  issue  of  the  franchise  renewal  to  Congress,” the group said.

Like other media groups, the MPC sees the shutdown as an attack on press freedom.

“We call  on  our  colleagues  in  the  media  profession  to  unite  in  the  face  of  this  attack.  We  know  this for  what  it  is.  Whether  done  in  the  dark  days  of  Martial  Law  or  under  the  broad  sunlight  of  a supposed  democracy,  attacks  against  press  freedom  will  only  succeed  when  we  are  divided,” the MPC said. -

“We  stand  in  solidarity  with  ABS-CBN  and  its  more  than  11,000  workers,  whose  livelihoods  are now  at  risk  because  of  the  NTC's  unreasonable  and  imprudent  action.

Three of the MPC’s 46 regular members work for ABS-CBN. -NB, GMA News