Pimentel to House: Be fair to 11,000 employees by acting on ABS-CBN franchise renewal bills

The House Committee on Legislative Franchises should show fairness by acting on the 11 pending bills seeking to renew the franchise of broadcasting company ABS-CBN, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said on Tuesday.

Pimentel, echoing the call made by Buhay party-list Representative Jose “Lito” Atienza, noted that the House should exercise its Constitutional mandate on deciding grant or denial of franchises since around 11,000 people stand to lose jobs over ABS-CBN’s closure.

“To be fair, dapat aksyunan. Aksyunan kung pass or fail, para at least…concerned people will know what to do. Move for reconsideration, or gather more goals, or override something, so dapat lang po aksyunan. Dapat, kumilos,” Pimentel, a lawyer, said.

“It should will rise or fall on the merits. You only cancel a franchise, or not renew a franchise, kung meron grave violation of the terms of the franchise. Kung may reklamo, ilabas nag reklamo para madinig. As [Senate] Committee on Trade Chair, doon ako nakatingin sa employment. Eleven thousand people will be affected,” Pimentel, a party-mate of President Rodrigo Duterte in PDP-Laban, added.

Solicitor General Jose Calida on Monday filed a quo warranto petition seeking to revoke the existing franchise of ABS-CBN due to alleged foreign ownership in violation of the Constitution by issuing Philippine Depositary Receipts to foreigners broadcasting for a fee and operating a pay-per-view channel in ABS-CBN TV Plus, the KBO Channel, without prior approval or permit from the National Telecommunications Commission; and subsidiary ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc.'s "resorting to an ingenious corporate layering scheme to transfer its franchise without the necessary Congressional approval, among others."

But unlike Atienza, Pimentel does not see Calida’s move as usurpation of Congress’ powers but more of a futile exercise since ABS-CBN’s franchise will already expire in less than two months.

“Sa mata ko, hindi [encroachment], pero the point is, baka ano lang, sayang lang yong effort kasi March 30 na iyong expiration ng franchise,” Calida said.

Likewise, Pimentel noted that Calida’s move is not economic sabotage, even if ABS-CBN Corporation lost P258.593 million in market capitalization on Monday after its shares fell by 1.76% at the close of trading after Calida’s move.

“I am sure it was not filed para pabagsakin ang stocks. This is a free market, [at] reaction na ng market ‘yon,” Pimentel said.

“Pero hindi naman iyon siguro ang dahilan, na pabagsakin ang stocks. Talagang ganon, nag-rereact ang market,” he added.

Under the law, the Senate cannot act on a franchise bill without the House approving it first.

The 11 bills seeking franchise renewal for ABS-CBN have been pending before the House Committee on Legislative Franchises led by Palawan representative Franz Alvarez since August 2019.

Not a single public hearing has been conducted for the said bills since then.

President Duterte has consistently issued threats that he will move for closure of ABS-CBN due to the network's supposed violations of the law.

After Calida filed his petition, ABS-CBN denied that it violated any law. — BM, GMA News