Despite losing its bid for a fresh legislative franchise, ABS-CBN on Friday vowed to “remain committed to public service”, a corporate mission it hopes to pursue through other means.

In a statement, the network said it is “deeply hurt” by the decision of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises to deny the franchise application contained in 11 separate bills authored by both opposition and administration congressmen, including three key officials of the Lower House.

“We believe that we have been rendering service that is meaningful and valuable to the Filipino public,” the network stressed hours after 70 members of the legislative franchise committee voted 70 for --- and 11members voted against --- the denial of the franchise bills.

The vote ended the broadcast network’s nearly 60 years of operation and effectively rendered jobless over 11,000 of its personnel, that included top entertainment celebrities and leading media personalities in the country.
The network officially closed its operations on May 5 to comply with a cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) a day after its 25-year legislative franchise expired.

Notwithstanding the rejection, the ABS CBN community remained thankful to the legisaltive franchise panel chaired by Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez.

“Nevertheless, we would like to thank the Committee for allowing us a chance to air our side on all the issues raised against us,” the network said.

It also extended its gratitude to congressmen who stood by their bills to renew our franchise, or who spoke out on our behalf during the hearings. We are forever grateful. 

“We remain committed to public service, and we hope to find other ways to achieve our mission.  Together with our employees and our audiences all over the world, we share in your sadness over this setback” said ABS CBN.