Senator Sherwin Gatchalian will act as presiding officer of a committee hearing on the issue of ABS-CBN broadcasting network.
Gatchalian thanked Public Services Committee chairman Senator Grace Poe for entrusting him the responsibility of presiding over the crucial legislation of granting provisional franchise to ABS-CBN.
“As acting presiding officer, I feel that expediency is crucial as the Filipino people need access to vital information given that vast swaths of the population emerge out of the enhanced community quarantine,” he said.
“Our people need information to guide us in this uncharted territory. In addition, more than 11,000 ABS-CBN employees need to return to productivity and earn a living in these uncertain times,” the senator added.
Gatchalian assured the public on the opening of the committee hearing immediately even if it falls on a Sunday “without prejudice to the formal transmission of the House of Representatives this coming Monday.”
Senator Francis Pangilinan said many people want ABS-CBN to be back on air because its operation is crucial in ensuring the free flow of life-saving information and in keeping the jobs of thousands of people.
“We witnessed last night how our co-equal chamber has fast-tracked the approval of the provisional franchise bill of ABS-CBN. In a few hours after its filing, the Committee of the Whole approved HB 6732 on first and second reading, and is expected to vote on it on third reading early next week,” he said.
Pangilinan said the move of the House of Representatives was a display of how measures in the chamber can easily hurdle, if the leadership wills it.
“We want our courses of action to be right—from the bill’s landing at the House plenary to its transmittal to the Senate for our own deliberation—so that we will have a provisional franchise that is legally and constitutionally firm and unassailable.”
According to the Constitution, Article VI Section 26. (2) No bill passed by either House shall become a law unless it has passed three readings on separate days, and printed copies thereof in its final form have been distributed to its Members three days before its passage, except when the President certifies to the necessity of its immediate enactment to meet a public calamity or emergency.
“It is within the power of the House to set this right, and soon,” Pangilinan said.
He added the nod of the House and the Senate will also not automatically allow the network to operate as the bill has to pass through the final approval of the President.
“While we look forward to the provisional franchise, we hope to tackle in the near future measures granting the network a renewed 25-year franchise to finally resurrect its operations,” he said.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in the House of Representatives lauded the initiative of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to grant shuttered ABS-CBN a provisional broadcast franchise up to Oct. 31 this year.
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said the hearings on bills calling for the renewal or a fresh grant of a 25 year franchise to the radio-television network should start soon.
“This will give ABS-CBN time and the venue to explain itself on accusations that it allegedly violated the terms and conditions of its expired franchise, labor laws and even the Constitution,” Rodiguez, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, said.
For his part, Deputy Speaker and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II, one of the proponents of the ABS-CBN provisional franchise bill, “the surprise move of NTC (against ABS-CBN) which undermined the power of congress, paved the way for the filing of House Bill 6732.”
“The bill seeks to grant ABS CBN a franchise for a limited period of time, up to October 31, 2020 only, but what is important is that the Speaker himself committed that there will be a hearing – a due process to all of this,” Gonzales said.
“In a way, this sets the time within which the Committee on Legislative Franchise can thoroughly conduct a committee hearing exhaustively and fairly, wherein all issues can be aired out fully. As assured by the Speaker, ABS CBN will be given an opportunity to answer all the allegations against it. In the same vein, those who oppose the franchise will also be given time to air their opposition as well,” Gonzales said.
At the same time, Gonzales urged interested parties for or against the issuance of a franchise, to ready their position papers and submit it in the committee to further hasten the process.
But Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman frowned on the move of the House leadership to introduce House Bill 6732 that grants ABS-CBN a provisional franchise to operate for a limited time, or until October 31.
Last Wednesday, the House constituted as a committee of the whole to deliberate and pass on second reading HB 6732 authored by several House leaders led by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. The House is expected to pass the bill on third and final reading anytime soon and transmit it to the Senate for action.
“The approval of HB 6732 by the House of Representatives will not automatically restore the operations of ABS-CBN because the bill has to be enacted into law after the concurrence of the Senate and the approval of the President,” Lagman said.
“Meanwhile, the House leadership is urged to commence consideration of the pending bills and resolve the alleged violations by ABS-CBN of its franchise before the projected provisional franchise would lapse after October 31, 2020 or five (5) months from now,” Lagman added.
Having been an immigration commissioner during the Estrada administration, Rodriguez said he is particularly interested to hear the network’s explanation that it allegedly breached the constitutional requirement on 100-percent Filipino ownership of media by selling Philippine depository receipts (PDRs) to foreigners and having an officer who was allegedly an American citizen.
ABS-CBN has denied violating such requirement and the SEC has earlier clarified that the issuance of the PDRs at that time did not violate the constitutional prohibition
Rodriguez said that the hearings by the committee on legislative franchises should start soon “since the proposed provisional broadcast authority is just for six months.”
He said if the temporary franchise takes effect on the first week of next month, that would give the committee, the House and the Senate less than five months to finish their hearings and the plenary approval process, and to send the final franchise bill to Malacañang.
“We hope we could finish all those processes wherein we hear the oppositors, the relevant government offices and the side of ABS CBN within that short period,” he added.
Rodriguez has authored a resolution giving ABS-CBN a provisional franchise good up to June 30, 2022. He has also filed a bill granting a fresh 25-year broadcasting privilege to the network.