The House Committee on Legislative Franchises has taken notice of SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta's denunciation of the recent deal between the shuttered ABS-CBN and TV5.
The committee, which is chaired by veteran solon Parañaque City 2nd district Rep. Gus Tambunting in the current 19th Congress, has scheduled a briefing on the controversial "purchase agreement" between the two networks.
The briefing, which will be done in a mixed virtual and physical manner, is slated at 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18.
It was listed on the committee meetings schedule Tuesday afternoon, or some 24 hours after Marcoleta delivered a privilege speech wherein he assailed both ABS-CBN and TV5 over the supposed questionable merger.
Conspicuously, the committee will only hold a briefing on the issue and not a full-blown investigation in aid of legislation.
This means that the invited resource persons won't be held under oath by the panel.
The panel said that the briefing would involved "concerned offices", although there's no word yet as to who have been invited to attend the proceedings.
Television and radio giant ABS-CBN was forced to go off the air two years ago after the House of Representatives rejected its application to renew its expired franchise. The solons found various violations on the part of ABS-CBN.
Marcoleta played a big role in the House hearings that led to the Kapamilya network's franchise rejection.