Members of the Minority Bloc expressed support Wednesday on initiatives to conduct further House inquiries on issues pertaining to the ABS-CBN franchise, if only to straighten out procedures in certain government agencies.
"We're going to study it and let the people so decide. We do not want people to think that whole of Congress is trying to persecute ABS-CBN," Minority leader and Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. said during the bloc's weekly press conference via Zoom.
Abante was referring to the filing of several House Resolutions from majority congressmen aiming to tie several loose ends from the long ABS-CBN franchise renewal hearings and panel investigation of weeks past.
"Sa akin, ang isa pang scenario dito (For me, another scenario here involve)...the regulators. We ought to investigate the regulators," said the Baptist bishop, who was actually among the 11 House members who voted against the Committee on Legislative Franchise's junking of the Lopez-owned network's franchise application.
"In the process of the committee hearings, all of the regulators said ABS-CBN has not done anything wrong. So what is the problem there? So I think the regulators should also be held responsible and liable," Abante said.
Referring to his "contra-SoNA (State of the Nation Address) Tuesday afternoon, the Manila lawmaker said: "There's a reason why I think the NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) should be abolished and all of its mandate should be given to the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology)."
During the franchise renewal hearings, Cavite 7th district Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla castigated NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba for letting alleged violations of ABS-CBN--such as its then-continuous digital broadcast despite an expired franchise--take place under his watch. Remulla even claimed that there's ground for the House to file a case against Cordoba with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Deputy Minority Leaders Marikina 1st district Rep. Bayani Fernando and Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin also found wisdom in continuing the House probe on ABS-CBN-related issues.
"Dapat ituloy ang mga imbestigasyon sa lahat...about ABS-CBN. Pati itong ating mga agencies are supposed to supervise ABS-CBN. (We should continue to investigate all the issues...about ABS-CBN. Even these agencies that are supposed to supervise ABS-CBN)," Fernando said.
"Yung ating mga agencies...bakit hindi kumibo yang mga yan? Ibig sabihin ganun kalaki ang impluwensya ng media, nasu-suppress naman nila yung gobyerno mismo because of too much power. (These agencies or ours...why didn't they take action? That means that media has that much power, they can suppress the government itself because of too much power)," added the former Marikina mayor.
Pointing to the resolutions, Garin said: "It's really good to look into it. Ang importante lang po kasi talagang masagot doon is that mayroon ba siyang impact sa taumbayan? (The important thing to learn is, will that have an impact on the people?)"
"At kung mayroon at pwedeng mai-correct (If it does and there are things to correct), then let's look at it, how it can be corrected, how safeguards can be installed especially in these challenging times," she added.