House rejects anew ABS-CBN franchise application

MANILA, Philippines — The House leadership has rejected the renewed bid to grant a franchise to broadcast giant ABS-CBN under the Duterte administration.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the chamber would not hear the network’s franchise renewal bill within the remaining months of the 18th Congress.

“Calls to revive the franchise of ABS-CBN will have to wait until the next Congress,” he announced in a statement, explaining that the House needs to prioritize measures to ensure the country’s economic recovery and for Filipinos to recover from the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

He stressed that “on top of these priority legislation, we would like to see the passage of Bayanihan 3, as well as other economic bills geared toward rebuilding the Philippine economy shattered by the devastating impact of the global pandemic and rebuilding the lives of every Filipino disrupted by the health crisis.”

Aside from these, Velasco cited measures left in the legislative agenda of the President that Congress needs to pass soon.

“With a little over a year until the 2022 elections, the House of Representatives is bent on finishing the remaining priority measures of this administration to ensure that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte fulfills his campaign promise to the Filipino people,” he said.

Velasco made the statement after Duterte himself announced in a public address earlier this week that he would not allow ABS-CBN to get a franchise until the Lopez family settles its alleged tax obligations.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque claimed yesterday that the Lopez-owned network once gave its assets to a special purpose asset vehicle (SPV) even if it was not facing bankruptcy just to avoid settling its debts.

“If you are going bankrupt, it would be acceptable if you give your asset to an SPV because you cannot pay off your debts. But ABS-CBN was not facing bankruptcy at that time,” he said at a press briefing.

Roque said one of the creditors of ABS-CBN then was the state-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

“It just gave its asset to the SPV because it does not want to settle its debts and one of its creditors is the state-run DBP. That’s the story that reached the President,” he noted.

Last May, ABS-CBN was forced to go off air after its franchise expired. Two months later, the House legislative franchises committee rejected a bill that would have granted it a fresh franchise, forcing the network to lay off thousands of workers.

Various sectors have denounced the shutdown, saying it constituted an attack against press freedom.

But earlier this week, Duterte said he won’t allow ABS-CBN to operate even if it gets a new franchise unless it settles its unpaid taxes.

Roque said Duterte is leaving it up to the Ombudsman to look into the supposed unpaid taxes of ABS-CBN. The Bureau of Internal Revenue previously said the network has been paying taxes regularly and that it has no outstanding delinquent account. The DBP has also denied writing off or condoning loans in favor of companies owned by the Lopezes.

“It’s not right if you do not pay your debts and just allow the SPV to assume them even if you are not facing bankruptcy,” Roque stressed. “It’s legal to give (assets) to the SPV but the issue is we have an anti-graft law... Let’s say it’s legal but if it is not favorable to the government, if the debts to a state-run bank are not paid even if ABS-CBN is not going bankrupt, is it right?”

Recently, several lawmakers have filed bills seeking to revive the network’s broadcast franchise, including Deputy Speaker Vilma Santos, Camarines Sur 3rd District Rep. Gabriel Bordado and Senate President Vicente Sotto III. – Alexis Romero