ABS-CBN chief debunks constitutional issues related to franchise bid

ABS-CBN President and chief executive officer Carlo Katigbak on Monday debunked the constitutional issues thrown against the broadcast company in relation to its application for another 25-year franchise.

Katigbak was given the opportunity during the joint hearing of the House Committees on Legislative Franchises and on Good Government and Public Accountability to answer the allegations raised by Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta related to the network's franchise issue in the previous hearing.

Marcoleta alleged that ABS-CBN has been using the same airwaves for more than 50 years already even as the Constitution states that Congress can grant a franchise of up to 50 years only.

He said that ABS-CBN started its operations 63 years ago in 1957 when Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN) merged with Alto Broadcasting System (ABS).

Even if ABS-CBN's operations were shut down during the Marcos regime for 13 years, according to Marcoleta, the network continue to operate for 50 years.

But Katigbak said that while the Constitution states that no legislative franchise should be longer than 50 years, it does not mean that the life of a company will also have a 50-year limit as a new franchise can always be granted to it.

"Ang sinasabi sa Saligang Batas ay ang isang prangkisa ay hindi maaring tumagal ng lampas 50 years. Pero hindi po nito sinasabi na pag-abot mo ng 50 years ng serbisyo, hindi ka na pwedeng magpatuloy ng serbisyo," he said.

"Ang sinasabi lang po ay kapag nag-expire ang iyong prangkisa, kailangan kumuha ulit ng panibagong prangkisa.  At ang ibibigay na bagong prangkisa ay hindi pwedeng lumampas ng 50 years," he added.

Katigbak also defended the citizenship of ABS-CBN chairman emeritus Gabby Lopez III, which Marcoleta questioned in the previous hearing.

Marcoleta claimed that Lopez, former ABS-CBN president,  was an American citizen when he took the helm of the company in 1986, which he said was a violation of the constitutional provision that mass media companies should be 100% Filipino-owned.

Katigbak maintained that Lopez, born in 1952 in Boston, USA, is a Filipino citizen as his parents are both Filipinos. He is likewise covered under the 1935 Constitution which states that children born of Filipino parents are Filipinos by birth.

"Totoo po na may US passport si Mr. Lopez. Ito ay dahil ipinanganak siya sa Amerika at sa batas ng Amerika, kahit hindi Amerikano ang magulang mo, kapag ipinanganak ka sa US, automatic po na may hawak ka rin na American citizenship," Katigbak said.

"Pero ang pagiging American citizen niya, at ang paghawak niya ng US passport, ay hindi nangangahulugan na hindi rin siya isang Pilipino," he added.

Moreover, Marcoleta claimed that ABS-CBN let foreign entities own its common shares through the issuance of Philippine Depository Slips (PDRs).

But Katigbak said that a PDR is not a share of ABS-CBN and that PDR holders cannot vote on matters involving the network as they do not hold company shares.

"Paano ka magiging isang may-ari kung hindi ka pwedeng bumoto sa anumang bagay na may kinalaman sa pagpapatakbo ng kumpanya?" he said.

"Pangalawa, ang pagbenta po ng PDR sa publiko ay inaprubahan ng SEC (Security and Exchange Commission) noong October 4, 1999. Paano ito magiging labag sa batas kung ang ahensya mismo ng gobyerno ang nagbigay ng permit para ibenta ang mga PDR na ito?" he added.

Katigbak likewise answered the question whether ABS-CBN's return to the Lopez family in 1986 after the Marcos regime was pursuant to the Constitution.

He said that the Lopez family did not sell ABS-CBN, and that entities forcibly took control of the company without paying the family.

"Hindi po totoo ang paratang na bigla na lang napasakamay muli sa mga Lopez ang ABS-CBN dahil sila naman ang tunay na may-ari nito," he said.

Katigbak added that the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) itself acted to return ABS-CBN to the Lopez family.

He said that in January 1987, an agreement was made between the government and ABS-CBN to allow the return of the network's facilities so that it could resume its broadcast --- an agreement upheld by the Supreme Court in 1989.

"Ang mga ahensya ng goberyno na humawak sa kasong ito ay ang PCGG, ang Office of the President, at ang Korte Suprema. Kaya hindi po totoo na hindi nakabatay sa batas ang pagbalik ng ABS-CBN sa pamilyang Lopez," Katigbak said.

House good government panel chair Jonathan Sy-Alvarado said that the interpellations on the issues raised in the hearing will take place on Wednesday, June 3.

The joint House panels began hearing the bills granting another 25-year franchise to ABS-CBN after the House leadership decided to drop the measure that would supposedly give the network a provisional franchise until October 31, 2020.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, himself an author of the provisional franchise bill, has said the issue on the ABS-CBN franchise has already become "so divisive" and is taking up the time even as there are more pressing matters to discuss such as that of COVID-19 response measures.

He, however, vowed to have a fair and comprehensive hearings on the issue at the committee level. —LDF, GMA News