Contact Details

Rm. N-411, House of Representatives, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
+63 2 931 5497, +63 2 931 5001 local 7370

Press Statements

To cleanse the passage of HB No. 6732 granting a provisional franchise to ABS-CBN of any constitutional infirmity and to accommodate a longer effectivity of at least one year for the interim franchise, a motion to reconsider the approval on second reading of the said bill can be seasonably filed on Monday, May 18, 2020.

The precipitate approval on second reading of House Bill No. 6732 last Wednesday, May 13, 2020, on the same day it underwent first reading, has raised a serious constitutional challenge for violation of Section 26 (2) of Article VI of the Constitution.

Press Statements

Depending on the will and predisposition of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, a bill can be approved with inordinate alacrity or can languish in virtual perpetuity.

Thus, the approval of House Bill No. 6732 granting provisional authority to ABS-CBN up to October 31, 2020 was done in blitzkrieg fashion on the same day it was filed and sponsored on May 13, 2020.

Press Statements

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano buckled to pressure and settled for a compromise grant of a provisionary franchise to ABS-CBN until October 31, 2020, which was approved on second reading in one session day.

The approval came nine days after the network’s franchise expired on May 4, 2020 without any positive action by the House leadership on the 12 pending bills for the renewal of the said franchise.

Press Statements

The critical renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise still languishes in the backseat as Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano prioritizes holding the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in contempt for shutting down the network’s operations on May 5, 2020, a day after the ill-fated franchise expired.

The “day of reckoning” for NTC as threatened by Cayetano is in the works after he directed the issuance of a show-cause order against NTC to explain, under pain of contempt, why it issued a cease-and-desist order (CDO) which stopped the operations of ABS-CBN, despite NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordova’s prior commitment to issue a provisional authority.