As far as Bayan Muna Party-List Rep. Carlos Zarate is concerned, the House Committee on Legislative Franchises is already in a position to decide whether or not to grant the ABS-CBN a new 25-year operating franchise.

The lawmaker gave this assessment even as the Legislative Franchises panel--along with the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability--scheduled a 12th hearing on the pending franchise renewal for Monday next week.

"Unprecedented if I may say so sa history ng Kongreso at ng Committee on Legislative Franchise na may ganung kahabang pagdinig. Halos lahat ng issues ay naibukas na. (If I may say so, it's unprecedented in the history of Congress and the Committee on Legislative Franchise to have such a long series of hearings. Almost all issues have been tackled)," said Zarate, one of the dozen or so congressmen who have filed bills seeking a new quarter-century franchise for ABS-CBN.

For over a month now, the Legislative Franchises panel chaired by Palawan 1st district Rep. Franz Alvarez and the Good Government panel chaired by Bulacan 1st district Rep. Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado have been jointly discussing issues pertaining to the shuttered television and radio network.

The Good Government panel's role in the hearings has more to do with the alleged violations of ABS-CBN of the Constitution and laws governing labor and taxation, and what the different government agencies have done about them.

"As far as the Committee on Legislative Franchise, kami ay naniniwala na exhausted na yung issues at pwede nang pag-desisyunan ito ng mga miyembro ng kumite (we believe that the issues have been exhausted and that the committee members can already decide on it)," Zarate pointed out.

This week alone, the joint panel conducted four hearings, with three of those hearings lasting over seven hours.

Zarate said the questions on constitutionality that have been raised by oppositors to the franchise renewal should have no bearing on the ultimate decision of the Alvarez panel, especially since they were unsubstantiated according to him.

"Yung mga mayor na usapin on the issue of constitutionality ay sa tingin namin hindi ito magiging dahilan na i-deny ang renewal of franchise ng ABS-CBN. Sa tingin namin na-exhaust na itong usaping ito at dapat maresolba na ito ng Committee on Legislative Franchise (We think that the major issues on constitutionality won't cause the denial of the ABS-CBN franchise renewal. These issues have been exhausted and the Committee on Legislative Franchise should now resolve this)," said the lawyer-congressman.

He said the oppositors failed to prove that the Lopez-owned network infringed on the 1987 Charter via its operations during its previous franchise.

"Doon sa usapin ng PDR (Philippine Depositary Receipt)…ay wala ring napatuyan dahil mayroong batas na pinapahintulutan ito. (On the issue of PDR…no unconstitutional act was proven because there is a law that allows it).

Meanwhile, revenue and special economic zones officials told the House panel that ABS-CBN is not using one of its subsidiaries as a “tax shield.”

“As far as tax payments… by Big Dipper, I think they are paying more or less correctly their taxes,” Albino Galanza, a regional director at the Bureau of Internal Revenue, to a joint hearing on July 1.

Galanza was referring to Big Dipper Digital Content and Design, a digital archiving firm owned by ABS-CBN and registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta suggested that ABS-CBN had used Big Dipper as a tax shield that purportedly led to a negative 5 percent tax rate in 2018.

Records, however, showed ABS-CBN’s tax rate that year was at 4 percent. Galanza disclosed that Big Dipper paid over P1.15 billion in taxes from 2016 to 2019.

His testimony affirmed statements made by ABS-CBN Group chief financial officer Ricardo Tan before the joint committee.

“Big Dipper is not a tax avoidance scheme,” Tan said.

He explained: “It’s in a different line of business. It’s an IT-enabled firm that does specific services for ABS and for other companies, so that we can bring our content to the market here and abroad.”

PEZA Director-General Charito Plaza also told lawmakers “there’s no such thing” as a tax shield given to PEZA-registered firms like Big Dipper.

She said incentives for these firms are being evaluated not just by PEZA, but also by the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Finance, National Economic and Development Authority, and other agencies.

Plaza told lawmakers Big Dipper had been paying a tax rate of 5 percent since 2015, after a six-year income tax holiday extended to PEZA-registered firms, and had been a pioneer locator.

Rep. Zarate concluded that "doon sa usapin ng pagmamay-ari daw ng dayuhan dahil questionable ang citizenship ng isa sa opisyal ng ABS-CBN ay hindi rin napatunayan na ito ay bawal dahil sila na rin ay umamin na natural-born Filipino citizen si Mr. Lopez (On the issue of alleged foreign ownership of ABS-CBN, no wrongdoing was proven because they themselves admitted that Mr. Lopez was a natural-born Filipino citizen)."