President Rodrigo Duterte’s imposition on Maynilad and Manila Water to accept government’s unilateral revision of their existing water concessions violates the constitutional guarantee on the freedom to contract.
The Constitution protects contracts from impairment by the State.
The mere say-so of the Duterte administration that the water concessions contain onerous provisions must pass judicial scrutiny, and any one-sided investigation by the administration will never suffice.
While Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo quipped that Vice President Leni Robredo’s report on the drug war is a “dud”, said report showing that President Duterte’s brutal campaign against illegal drugs is a dismal failure cannot be assailed because it is precisely based on facts and data coming from the government, particularly the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
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.
Labelling a serious critical comment against the President’s repeated blocking of ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal as “nonsense” is a lame rebuttal which has no sense.
Presidential chief apologist Salvador Panelo’s evasive repartee is the one which is bare nonsense.
It is utter myopia to conveniently distance from the exercise of press freedom the issue on the renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN Corporation which will soon expire on March 30, 2020.
The question on renewal inextricably involves the exercise of press freedom.
The 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.
