A House leader wants to revive the congressional investigation into the alleged violations of the laws committed by shuttered television and radio giant ABS-CBN Corporation.
Cavite 4th district Representative Elpidio Barzaga Jr. vice chairman of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises, cited the need to revisit the issues raised against ABS-CBN during the investigation conducted by the previous 18th Congress.
The lawyer-solon said this would determine if the company had corrected the legal infringements and the other violations that led to the denial of its legislative franchise in 2020.
“These legal and constitutional issues include the possible violations committed by ABS-CBN on the constitutional limits on foreign ownership, its reported violations of labor and tax laws and other violations of its previous franchise. We have to find out if ABS-CBN has been following the law or continuing to violate or circumvent it,” Barzaga said in a statement.
The House legislative franchise panel rejected ABS-CBN's application for a new 25-year operating franchise after its old one lapsed in May 2020. This rejection was preceded by a series of high-profile public hearings in the lower chamber wherein solons like SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta raised the alleged violations of the popular network.
Barzaga realled that ABS-CBN had initially attempted to merge with another local network, TV-5, in a bid to ride on the legislative franchise granted to the latter. The merger was dropped when several lawmakers revealed that they planned to investigate the deal.
Following this failed merger bid, ABS-CBN has inked another agreement, this time with international cable channels Discovery Asia and the Asian Food Network.
While Barzaga said he sees no possible violation of this agreement at this time, “We do not know if there are other deals that ABS-CBN has entered into which need to be reviewed to find out if they are violating the law.”
Barzaga said a reinvestigation by Congress into ABS-CBN could even benefit the company as he recalled that no less than President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. had said earlier that ABS-CBN would be able to secure new franchise once all the issues against it are resolved.
The 18th Congress had denied the application of ABS-CBN for a new 25-year franchise on the ground that the firm had, among others, violated the constitutional limits on foreign ownership, as shown by its issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) to foreigners. Solons said back then that this may have violated the constitutional provision against ownership and management of mass media by foreigners.
According to the panel, questions were also raised on the dual citizenship of ABS-CBN’s chairman emeritus, Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III; violations of its previous franchise by operating a pay-per-view channel without prior approval from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC); the use of a dummy franchise; its less than exemplary labor practices; and tax avoidance schemes.
Probe SMNI instead
Meanwhile, Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro said that a potential probe on the matter would constitute an "abuse of power" by Congress.
"Tinanggalan na nga ng prangkisa maski walang napatunayang mga paglabag ay patuloy pa ding tinutugis ang ABS-CBN dahil sa kanilang paglalahad ng katotohan (Not only was ABS-CBN stripped of its franchise despite none of its alleged violations getting proven, but its persecution continues amid its pursuit of truth)," said the teacher-solon.
Castro, a member of the Makabayan bloc, went as far to say that another network--SMNI, which is known to have good ties with the current administration---should be investigated instead.
"Sa totoo lang SMNI dapat ang iniimbestigahan hindi ang ABS-CBN. Napakarami na nitong paglabag sa KBP (Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas) code of ethics at mga panuntunan sa prangkisa nito dahil sa pagkakalat ng kasinungalingan, red tagging at fake news pero hindi ito ginagalaw dahil alyado ng nakaraan at kasalukuyang adminsitrasyon. Sana ay walang double standards (In truth, it's SMNI that should be investigated, not ABS-CBN. It has so many violations against the KBP code of ethics and its franchise due to alleged spread of lies, red-tagging and fake news, but it won't make a move since it is allied with the previous and current administration. We hope there are no double standards)," she said.