Contrary to the baseless tirades, albeit obliquely, against me by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, I never blamed the House of Representatives for failing to act on the bills seeking the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise.

In fact, almost a hundred Representatives co-authored my Resolution No. 639 filed on January 6, 2020 which urged the leadership of the House to act forthwith on the franchise renewal.

I directly faulted Cayetano himself and the House leadership for not shepherding the seasonable consideration and action on the subject bills and for unduly stalling their consideration until the network’s franchise expired on May 4, 2020.

I likewise did not belittle the accomplishments of the House in passing the 2020 General Appropriations Bill, the 5th Tranche of the Salary Standardization Law and the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, all of which I supported and voted for.

What I said was that before and after the approval of these priority measures, the House leadership had sufficient time to deliberate and act on the franchise renewal bills before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

My press statements are on record and they speak on the verity of my declarations.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN