Solons involved in ABS-CBN hearings being cyberbullied –Remulla

Senior Deputy Majority Leader Jesus Crispin Remulla claimed on Monday that he and fellow lawmakers at the House of Representatives who were deliberating on the ABS-CBN franchise renewal were being cyberbullied.

During the continuation of the House joint panel hearings on the ABS-CBN franchise issue, Remulla alleged that "troll farms" were being employed to criticize lawmakers involved in the inquiry.

"After my experience for the past 10 days or the past six days of being the subject of many organized attacks on social media, I have gone to the [National Bureau of Investigation] to complain about the cyberbullying being done to my person and to other members of the House," said Remulla.

He also argued that lawmakers were holding hearings on the ABS-CBN franchise not for their own personal reasons but "for this country."

"This matter of scrutinizing a constitutional franchise, this franchise of ABS-CBN is a constitutional duty. Ito ay aming tungkulin sa ilalim ng Saligang Batas na tignan ang bagay na ito," he said.

Last week, Remulla apologized after he was caught taking down notes as the national anthem was playing at the start of one of their hearings, a video of which went viral on social media.

He accused people from ABS-CBN of "playing [the video] up" on social media. Nevertheless, he said he would forgive them.

Deception

During Monday's hearing, Remulla also asked the joint House panels to look into the "deception" of several resource persons they invited in the hearing to testify on the allegations against ABS-CBN.

"Sa madaling salita, yung mga nagsinungaling sa ating committee. Alam natin dapat parusahan ng contempt. Kasi lagi nating pinapaalala sa kanila na magsasabi ng buong katotohanan. Sana maimbestigahan natin ito sapagkat masama itong ehemplo kung ito ay palalampasin lang natin basta-basta," he said.

"Nais kong sulatan na ng committee ang NBI upang tignan ang mga ginawang dahilan ng ABS-CBN katulad ng Amcara Broadcasting kung ito ay isang panloloko sa komiteng ito at sa bansang Pilipino," he added.

Remulla earlier called Amcara, to which frequency Channel 43 was assigned, as a "dummy" of ABS-CBN after it was revealed in the previous hearing that it was ABS-CBN who bought the transmitter so it could use the frequency for a test broadcast on digital TV. — DVM, GMA News