President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. seems to have no problem with broadcast media giant ABS-CBN getting a new franchise as long as it can settle the issues being hurled at it.
Marcos said this in his interview with one of his biggest supporters, TV host and actress Toni Gonzaga, a former ABS-CBN talent, that aired over ALLTV on his 65th birthday on September 13.
According to Marcos, his stand on the issue has not changed.
"I have not changed my position ever. The question about the ABS-CBN franchise is really about some of the violations, and some of the problems that they have encountered during the hearings and in the investigation in the House of Representatives," he said.
"And so long as those are attended to, and those are resolved, then there's no reason actually for the Committee on Franchises in the House to deny them a franchise," he added.
Marcos said that while the biggest hurdle ABS-CBN faces might be politics, they should still resolve the issues that surfaced during the hearing for their franchise.
"I know that the suspicion is that it is always because of the political positions that they took which are against PRRD," he said, referring to former President Rodrigo Duterte.
"The actual technical reasons are these — the issues that were found during the hearings in the House," he added.
President Duterte's beef with ABS-CBN was no public secret. He had repeatedly slammed the network for supposedly not airing his ads during the 2016 election season despite paying for them.
In 2020, despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, ABS-CBN was forced to shut down its free TV operations after the House of Representatives rejected its application to renew its 25-year franchise.
The House Committee on Legislative Franchises cited the alleged dual citizenship of ABS-CBN chairman emeritus Eugenio Lopez III, a possible violation of the constitutional limits on foreign ownership, and reported labor and tax violations, among others.
Duterte had denied his involvement in ABS-CBN's unfortunate fate, saying he had already forgiven the Lopezes, the company's owners.
However, in an expletive-filled speech in Tacloban City in March 2021, Duterte took pride in his "success" in toppling the oligarchy and even mentioned ABS-CBN in particular.
Duterte said that as long as he was in Malacañang, he would not allow ABS-CBN to return to free TV in its capacity if the company's obligations remained unpaid.
In January this year, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) granted provisional authority to Advanced Media Broadcasting System Inc., a media company owned by former Senate President Manny Villar, to "install, operate, and maintain" digital TV channel 16 and temporary simulcast on analog TV channel 2 previously held by ABS-CBN.
Villar's ALLTV, where Marcos' interview with Gonzaga aired, now occupies channel 2.