Poe on House panel's 'conscience vote' to deny ABS-CBN franchise: 'Ewan ko sa kanila'

Senator Grace Poe on Monday said she can't tell if the House panel's decision to junk the ABS-CBN Corporation's franchise application was indeed a "conscience vote."

"Ewan ko sa kanila kasi sila naman ang nakakarinig ng kanilang konsensiya. Pero marami doon sa mga bumoto laban sa prangkisa ng ABS-CBN. Nagtaka lang ako kasi noong umpisa eh sila pa nga mismo ang nag-file ng bill to co-author the franchise of the ABS-CBN," Poe said in an interview on CNN-Philippines.

On Friday, the House Committee on Legislative Franchises adopted a resolution recommending the denial of the network's franchise application. Seventy voted yes, 11 voted no, two inhibited and one abstained.

Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services, which handles franchise bills in the upper chamber, said the committee report released by the House panel was somehow lacking.

The senator stressed that the labor issues cited against the media company could have been referred and resolved in another forum.

The content issues could have been handled by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, she added.

Further, she said that if ABS-CBN's issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts or PDRs would be considered a basis for the non-approval of franchise application, many other media companies would also be in violation and would be threatened with franchise cancellation. She underscored that other networks also issue PDRs as allowed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"If you read the committee report, it's actually very short... It was very vague... I don't know what the particular basis of Congress was in coming up with these alleged violations of ABS-CBN... For the committee report to be compelling and for it to merit the signatures of the committee members, you have to be able to substantiate and cite a particular statement from a resource person detailing why you have come up with that decision," Poe said.

"In the case of the lower house, although they have the authority to cancel or grant a franchise, they should have parameters. It should not be based on their will or maybe just their personal view. It has to be based on facts," she added.

It would have been better if the House granted a temporary permit for the media company to operate for the sake of more than 11,000 employees of ABS-CBN who are also struggling to wade through the pandemic, according to Poe.

"Sapagkat ngayon, isang  trabaho, limang trabaho, isang libong trabaho ay importanteng maisalba," she said.

Mislatel's case

Poe further cited the consideration granted by Congress to the third telco Dito, formerly Mislatel Consortium, because the needs of the people were considered.

"Ang Mislatel pinagbigyan 'yan kahit ang dami nilang violations sa kanilang franchise. Unang-una, when they acquired that franchise, part of the franchise agreement states that you should be in operation for a certain period. Mislatel was dormant for the longest time and yet Congress moved past that and granted them the franchise," she said.

She added that the Senate also approved the franchise with certain safeguards because "people were pleading" that the country needs competition and they saw the value of granting one.

"That's how it is. There are parameters but you should also be flexible... what can serve the most number of people, what interests will be upheld," Poe said.

The senator has earlier warned that the House's decision to deny the ABS-CBN franchise application sets a "high and unforgiving bar in approving franchises." —KG, GMA News