15 senators back Sotto’s franchise bill for ABS-CBN

At least 15 senators have already expressed support for the renewal of the ABS-CBN Corporation's franchise, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Wednesday.

The following lawmakers were included on the list of 15 co-authors of Senate Bill No. 1967, which was sent by Sotto to reporters:

• Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto
• Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri
• Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon
• Senator Panfilo Lacson
• Senator Sonny Angara
• Senator Nancy Binay
• Senator Sherwin Gatchalian
• Senator Richard Gordon
• Senator Lito Lapid
• Senator Manny Pacquiao
• Senator Joel Villanueva
• Senator Risa Hontiveros
• Senator Francis Pangilinan
• Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III
• Senator Leila De Lima

The bill, authored by Sotto, seeks to give the broadcasting network another 25-year franchise.

Franchise bills, however, must originate from the House of Representatives before it can be tackled in the Senate.

Sotto said he is optimistic that this has better chances of passing as the House recently had a change in leadership.

The House committee on legislative franchises, during the speakership of Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano, thumbed down the application of ABS-CBN for franchise renewal last year.

Cayetano was replaced by Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco, another ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, last October.

"Nothing stops a congressman from filing a new franchise bill again" under the 18th Congress, according to Sotto.

Deputy Speaker Lito Atienza, meanwhile, said that the shorter route to reopen the House deliberations on the ABS-CBN franchise renewal is to move for the reconsideration of the denial of the network's application back in July last year.

Following Sotto's filing of an ABS-CBN franchise renewal bill in the Senate, Deputy Speaker Vilma Santos-Recto said she will file next week a fresh counterpart measure in the House.

However, Anakalusugan party-list Representative Mike Defensor, who serves as vice chair of the franchise panel, said all the previous measures for the ABS-CBN franchise renewal must first be withdrawn before a new one may be filed and the deliberations may be reopened.

According to him, when the committee decided to deny the franchise application of ABS-CBN, the measures proposing it were simply "laid on the table" or set aside, and they have not been junked altogether.

At least 12 bills were filed at the House during the 18th Congress to extend the franchise of ABS-CBN for another 25 years.

Drilon and Recto earlier said the House move will likely depend on Duterte's decision.

On the other hand, the Palace said only Congress can grant a franchise to a broadcast company.

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