Palace insists only Congress can give franchise to ABS-CBN

Malacañang on Tuesday insisted that only Congress can grant a franchise to a broadcast company after a Senate bill has been filed to renew ABS-CBN Corporation’s license to operate its television and radio stations.

Speaking at a news conference, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque disagreed with Senator Ralph Recto’s opinion that the franchise renewal would only pass with Palace’s support.

“I beg to differ, that is a sole constitutional prerogative of Congress which must originate from the House of Representatives,” Roque said.

On Monday, Senate President Vicente Sotto III filed Senate Bill 1967 seeking to allow ABS-CBN to construct, install, operate, and maintain television and radio broadcasting stations in the Philippines for another 25 years.

Deputy Speaker Vilma Santos-Recto then said she will file a counterpart bill in the House next week.

For Anakalusugan party-list Representative Mike Defensor, all previous bills on the franchise renewal must first be withdrawn before a new one is filed.

Critics earlier linked the non-renewal of ABS-CBN’s legislative franchise in July last year to President Rodrigo Duterte's previous repeated threats to take the media giant off air over his unaired political advertisements in 2016.

Malacañang, meanwhile, accepted the decision of the House legislative franchises committee.

ABS-CBN's franchise lapsed on May 4, 2020. It went off air the following day after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) ordered the company to stop its broadcast operations.

The NTC later recalled the television and radio frequencies assigned to ABS-CBN. —AOL, GMA News