Duterte dismantled 11k jobs, not oligarchy after ABS-CBN closure —Hontiveros

President Rodrigo Duterte did not dismantle oligarchy but instead deprived more than 11,000 Filipinos of jobs due to the ABS-CBN Corporation's closure under his administration, according to Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday.

"Hindi totoong na-dismantle ang oligarkiya. Ang na-dismantle ay ang buhay ng mga ordinaryong manggagawa. Solusyon sa krisis ang dapat hatid natin ngayon, imbes na dagdag-krisis," the opposition senator said in a statement.

Over two months after it went off air due to the cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission for an expired franchise, ABS-CBN announced that it will start laying off its workers on August 31.

Hontiveros stressed that the informal workers making a living along Mother Ignacia—like vendors and tricycle drivers—are also bound to feel the impact of the House panel's junking of the media giant's franchise application.

Earlier this week, a raw audio clip of Duterte's speech in Jolo surfaced and revealed that he actually mentioned ABS-CBN when he talked about dismantling oligarchy—the soundbites of which were absent from and believed to have been deleted in the uploaded version of the video.

His remarks on oligarchy came on the heels of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises' decision to mark the end of the road for ABS-CBN's franchise renewal bid.

In previous years, Duterte was very vocal about his grievances against ABS-CBN, particularly over unaired campaign ads during the 2016 elections. He even threatened to block the renewal of the firm's franchise.

Despite the surfacing of the supposedly "unsanitized" speech of Duterte, Roque still maintained that the President was not attacking ABS-CBN. -MDM, GMA News