One of the authors of a bill proposing the renewal of the franchise of the shuttered ABS-CBN suggested a congressional inquiry into the Philippine Depositary Receipts of the other broadcasting networks.
At the joint hearing of the House committee on legislative franchises and the committee on good government and public accountability on ABS-CBN’s bid for a fresh 25-year franchise, Nueva Ecija Rep. Micaela Violago said the chamber must also probe the other networks’ PDRs.
Her suggestion came after Bulacan Rep. Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado said the PDRs submitted by GMA-7 were “similar” to those of ABS-CBN's.
Earlier in the hearing, Sy-Alvarado, head of the good- government and public accountability committee, said only GMA-7 had so far submitted copies of its PDRs.
"Chairman Alvarado earlier said that all the PDRs of all major broadcasting companies are almost the same as GMA and ABS-CBN. The only difference is the price," Violago said.
That prompted her to say that, "in aid of legislation, in the near future hopefully, maybe we can also investigate the PDRs of other broadcasting companies the way we investigate the PDRs of ABS-CBN."
Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla urged Violago to file a resolution on the matter for a congressional probe to happen.
“That is for a member of the House to file the corresponding resolution on that matter. In the meantime, we will abide by the investigation that we are conducting right now,” Remulla said.
During Thursday’s hearing of the joint panel, Sy-Alvarado requested that copies of the PDRs issued by the major mass media and broadcasting companies be submitted to the investigating committees amid their inquiries on ABS-CBN’s alleged violation of its franchise.
She said the purpose was to determine if mass media and broadcasting companies had the same PDRs.
Meanwhile, the committees also touched on the legality of the Lopez family's acquisition of ABS-CBN after the EDSA Revolution, and if the network’s application violated the 50-year constitutional limitation for a franchise.
In the earlier hearings, ABS-CBN president and chief executive Carlo Katigbak said the acquisition of the network in 1986 was constitutional, and that the Lopez family never sold the network in the first place.
It was during Martial Law in 1972 when ABS-CBN shut down its operation, resuming it only in 1986 after the EDSA Revolution.