House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said the Philippines should emulate South Korea’s “K-wave” which popularized Korean pop culture, including K-dramas, in the revival of the local entertainment industry.

“What I think we can do really and focus on is to create a Department of Arts and Culture, to put together an ecosystem wherein our creative artists (get) 'yung knowledge in the digital era,” said Cayetano during an interview over CNN Philippines.

Cayetano said even if ABS-CBN was granted a franchise renewal, the country’s entertainment industry will continue to struggle, especially during this pandemic caused by COVID-19.

“What did Korea do after the 1997 Asian crisis? They planned 'yung K-wave, 'yung K-pop, 'yung K-drama,” Cayetano said.

 The legislator recounted that the Philippine entertainment industry was more popular than that of South Korea in past decades.

“Nung 70s, 80s, I think even 60s lamang na lamang tayo (We were ahead during the 70s, 80s, and even the 60s),” he said.

Sometime 10 to 15 years ago, Cayetano recalled that countries like Malaysia and Thailand were purchasing Filipino television series or “teleseryes.”

"'Wag muna natin targetin 'yung buong mundo. Asia muna targetin natin tutal ang Chinese market, Japanese market, Korean market malaki rin naman at may pera tong mga to (We don’t have to target the entire world. We can start with Asia since the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean markets are large),” the lawmaker said.

 “In ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), we have 680 million people,” he added.

Cayetano urged everyone to move past the denial of the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN and focus instead on its employees and how to deal with the pandemic.

“Although these are urgent issues there are very important issues like COVID-19,” Cayetano said.

The lawmaker backed  the creation of a workers cooperative that would take over ABS-CBN.

 “Is it possible for the ABS-CBN employees including their big stars to take over both entertainment and news and public affairs? Ang answer ko is yes (My answer is yes),” he said.

 Cayetano said most of Congress supports the idea of having the workers take over ABS-CBN and would grant a franchise to the network once this happens.

“Ang main issue for most of the congressmen really is how ABS-CBN flaunted the law, went around tax laws, election laws, and how they use ABS to protect their business and to be king makers and or king slayers in Philippine politics,” he said.

READ MORE: House Speaker seeks creation of Department of Arts and Culture to promote PH arts