I have repeatedly underscored that there is no other solution to the dilemma of ABS-CBN than the seasonable extension of its legislative franchise prior to its expiration.
The solution proffered by the House leadership on the grant of a provisional authority to the network giant by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is contrary to law and jurisprudence, as I have previously explained.
Section 16 of RA 7925 clearly provides that “No person shall commence or conduct the business of being a public telecommunications entity without first obtaining a franchise.”
Moreover, in Associated Communications and Wireless Services United Broadcasting Networks vs. NTC, the Supreme Court held that “As long as the law remains unchanged, the requirement of a franchise to operate a television station must be upheld.”
The request of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Chairman Franz Alvarez of the committee on legislative franchises to the NTC to grant ABS-CBN a provisional authority to operate after the expiration of its franchise on 04 May 2020, and the explicit undertaking of Commissioner Gamaliel Cordova of NTC during the first and only public hearing on the franchise renewal on 10 March 2020 that the provisional authority will be granted, were all part of a charade.
Even the Executive, through the Solicitor General, has objected consistently to such solution.
The NTC’s cease and desist order against ABS-CBN’s operations dated 05 May 2020 confirms this travesty.
While the Congress is in session and during the effectivity of the cease and desist order, the House of Representatives can prioritize the enactment of the long-pending franchise renewal to which there is no formal or credible opposition.
The cessation of ABS-CBN’s operations sounds the death knell of the freedom of the press even as thousands of its employees and indirect workers and enterprises dependent on the broadcasting network are doomed to lose their livelihoods.
The shuttering of ABS-CBN is even more tragic because the public, now more than ever, needs and depends on its broadcast information as COVID-19 continues to rampage.
EDCEL C. LAGMAN