Defensor: Dual citizens must stay away from Philippine media ownership

Anakalusugan party-list Representative Mike Defensor on Thursday maintained that Filipinos who hold foreign citizenship should not be allowed to own or manage any media entity in the country.

Defensor made the remark amid the issue on the citizenship of ABS-CBN chairman emeritus Gabby Lopez III, which is being questioned as the broadcast company asks for another 25-year franchise.

“Consistent with the national interest and largely for national security reasons, the Constitution requires 100% Filipino ownership of media. The Charter also bans dual allegiance by any Filipino,” Defensor said.

He conceded that the provision in the Constitution on 100% Filipino ownership of media does not specifically ban dual citizens from owning or managing a media entity.

However, the spirit of that provision, read together with the provision against dual allegiance, dictates that a Filipino who is also a citizen of another country must not be allowed to own or manage a media company, he added.

“Imagine a Filipino who is also a Chinese citizen and who owns or runs a television station or a newspaper at this time when the Philippines and China are engaged in a tug-of-war over the West Philippine Sea. Which side he would take? Which country’s interest would he protect?” 

Defensor likewise said that the same provision requires that a cooperative or a corporation that owns or operates a media entity should be "wholly-owned" by Filipinos.

“For me, wholly-owned means completely, entirely owned by Filipinos. This means that dual citizens cannot be media owners. In fact, if you stretch the interpretation of that provision, the ban would apply to owning even a single share in a media company,” he said.

But Lopez, during the House joint hearing on the ABS-CBN franchise issue on Wednesday, asked lawmakers to look beyond the technicalities of his citizenship and consider his service to the Filipino people over the last 35 years as testament to his allegiance to the country.

"I stand by my record over the last 35 years. I have been committed to the people of this country, it is a trust that has been passed on to me by my father and by his father before him," Lopez told the members of the joint panel.

"In fact I always tell our employees, dito sa ABS-CBN, it is not just a job, it is a calling. So please if you're going to look beyond technicality and talk about allegiance, please look at my record over the last 35 years," he added.

Lopez even said that being a dual American and Filipino citizen was never an issue for him in the actions he made as former head of the broadcast company.

"Frankly, the issue of being a dual citizen is not even something that I think about. I know in my heart that I am a Filipino, and all my actions in the last 35 years I've been associated with ABS-CBN, has been to the service of the Filipino in my mind," he said.

"If it came down to conflict of interest, I would give up my US citizenship in a minute," he added.

The next joint hearing on the ABS-CBN franchise issue is scheduled on Monday next week. —LBG, GMA News