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Villafuerte to Lopezes: Sell ABS-CBN to save jobs or risk longer shutdown
By LLANESCA T. PANTI,GMA NewsThe Lopez family should sell ABS-CBN Corporation to new owners to save its employees from job loss or risk remaining shut even after the Duterte administration, House Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte said Friday.
Villafuerte, in an ANC interview, made the response when asked if the House could have instead given ABS-CBN the chance to correct its alleged violations to prevent job loss for its workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic rather than shut the network down.
“Bottomline, my suggestion to the Lopez family, they just sell the corporation. If they really love the 11,000 employees or more and they really want to serve the Filipino people, ibenta na lang iyong kumpanya,” Villafuerte, who was one of the 70 lawmakers who voted to reject ABS-CBN’s franchise application, said.
“Ako, I will support the renewal under new management,” he added.
Villafuerte then said he is sure that under new owners, all of the employees will be safe from losing their jobs.
“I’m sure, if they sell it, big companies [which will buy it] can provide the capital to run it, the manpower, financial, economic, technical expertise to run the company,” he added.
He then cited the case of Mighty Corporation which paid its P25 billion out of its P37 billion tax dues in exchange of its owners deciding to sell it to a Japanese company, JTI corporation.
“Nagbayad, binenta, walang problema, walang natanggal,” Villafuerte said.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue, however, testified during the franchise hearing that ABS-CBN has no existing unpaid tax dues
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Villafuerte then said that many lawmakers believe the Lopez family is playing as a kingmaker in Philippine politics thru ABS-CBN. He said these same lawmakers—if they win in 2022—will again likely deny ABS-CBN’s franchise application if the network’s owners remain the Lopezes.
“Sabi nga, we'll remember iyong mga bumoto vs. ABS-CBN, di namin sila iboboto for 2022. But the risk is, if they win again and ABS-CBN applies again with the same ownership structure, they might experience the same scenario where they will be denied [franchise],” he pointed out.
Villafuerte, however, clarified that he is not forcing the Lopez family to sell ABS-CBN.
“This is just a suggestion, tutal, the Lopez family earned billions, they have other companies, First Gen, Rockwell,” he said.
“The decision is up to them,” the lawmaker added.
Voting 70-11, the House franchise committee last Friday voted to adopt the resolution of the technical working group it created recommending the denial of ABS-CBN's franchise application.
Based on the TWG report, ABS-CBN violated its old franchise, described by the panel as a privilege, because of the following reasons: its former Chairman Eugenio Lopez III was both a Filipino and American citizen, the issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts supposedly favoring foreigners, inappropriate program content, meddling in politics, tax avoidance schemes; less than exemplary labor practices, among others.—AOL, GMA News