Rep. Edcel C. Lagman filed today, January 6, 2020, Resolution No. 639 “urging the Committee on Legislative Franchises to report out without further delay for plenary action a consolidated version of eight (8) pending bills proposing for the renewal for another twenty-five (25) years of the legislative franchise of ABS-CBN Corporation”.

The Lagman resolution appealed to the leadership and membership of the House of Representatives to uphold and respect the freedom of the press as an indispensable component of the freedom of expression and free speech by requiring the Committee on Legislative Franchises to act immediately on the bills renewing the giant network’s franchise.

The following Members of the House, among others, have signified their intention to co-author the resolution: Reps. Michaela Violago, Joy Myra Tambunting, Johnny Pimentel, Doy Leachon, Josie Limkaichong, Emmanuel Billones, Christopher “Kit” Belmonte, France Castro, Carlos Zarate, and Eufemia Cullamat as a show of multi-partisan support in upholding the freedom of the press.

The resolution invoked as a fitting precedent the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court in Chavez vs. Gonzales and NTC which found the warnings of then Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzales and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for radio and television media not to air or broadcast the purported wiretapped “Garci tapes” under the pain of revocation of their certificates to operate to have “chilling effect” on press freedom and constituted “unconstitutional prior restraint on the exercise of freedom of speech and of the press”.

Lagman said that the repeated threats by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte against the renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN Corporation due to his personal grievances against the network giant constitute prior restraint on press freedom in the light of the Chavez ruling.

Due to the President’s continuing objection to the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, the Committee on Legislative Franchises has not acted on eight (8) pending bills similarly proposing a 25-year extension of ABS-CBN’s franchise.

The resolution emphasized that time is of the essence because the franchise of ABS-CBN expires on March 30, 2020 or very soon thereafter, and Congress has only 24 regular session days from its resumption on January 20, 2020 to its Holy Week adjournment starting on March 14, 2020 to May 3, 2020.

Lagman also underscored that:

1. the renewal of the ABS-CBN franchise is inextricably linked to the exercise of press freedom;

2. a franchise is required for reasonable regulation of the operation of radio and television networks, and is never intended to curtail the freedom of the press;

3. a grant of a congressional franchise to a radio and/or television network does not reduce press freedom to an ordinary privilege subject to the unfettered discretion of the State or to the whims and caprices of officialdom;

4. a franchise is an embodiment of the State’s recognition of press freedom;

5. a franchise is not a mere privilege because it ripens to a right once the conditions for its grant are substantially complied with;

6. a franchise is renewable for another 25 years under existing laws;

7. the freedom of the press is corollary to the people’s right to information and the decimation of press freedom amounts to the demise of the people’s right to know; and

8. a free press is vital to a democratic society because it not only guarantees the publication and broadcast of a diversity of voices and opinions, it also holds those in power accountable.

Any inordinate delay or arbitrary denial of a franchise renewal emasculates freedom of the press, Lagman added. EDCEL C. LAGMAN