ABS-CBN official apologizes to Duterte for airing critical TV ad
Published Feb 25, 2020 12:00 am
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
A top official of the embattled ABS-CBN network on Monday apologized to President Duterte for airing the television advertisement critical of him during the 2016 presidential elections.
ABSCBN President and CEO Carlo Katigbak during the senate hearing on ABSCBN Franchise renewal on Monday. Photo by Jansen Romero/ MANIL BULLETIN
At the Senate public services committee's hearing on the media network's legislative franchise, ABS-CBN president and chief executive officer (CEO) Carlo Katigbak said the company was sorry, although he maintained that they were only complying with existing laws and regulations about political advertisements.
"We were sorry if we offended the President, that was not the intention of the network, we felt that we were just abiding by the laws and regulations that surround the airing of political ads," Katigbak said before the Senate panel.
Katigbak was earlier confronted by long-time Duterte aide and Senator Christopher Go about the Chief Executive's issue with the broadcast company.
Go accused the network of engaging in "black propaganda" to malign then presidential candidate Duterte by prioritizing the ad paid for by former senator and staunch administration critic Antonio Trillanes IV.
"Hindi mababaw ang rason ng Pangulo sa kanyang grievances against the network. Nasaktan ang Presidente. Nababoy ang Presidente. Hindi vindictive ang Pangulo, but it is clear that someone went overboard in trying to malign him," he said, clarifying to his colleagues Duterte's sentiment.
Echoing Duterte's call for "fair" reporting, the neophyte senator told the broadcast network: "Kung masama ka sa pangulo, maging mas masama siya sa iyo. Kung mabait ka kay pangulo, mas mabait sya sa inyo."
Katigbak, in response, explained that the network offers two kinds of political ad spots to candidates: the national ads, or those that would be aired all over the country with 19 minutes of airtime per hour; and the local ads, which are aired over specific provinces at two minutes per hour.
He recalled that Duterte had placed P117 million worth of national ads in the television station, all of which were accommodated and aired during the campaign period.
It was on Duterte's local ad placement that ABS-CBN "had a problem" Katigbak said, as he cited restraints with the two-minute-per-hour airtime.
The network failed to air P7 million of the P65-million ad placements paid for by Duterte.
"Our policy on all our ads is 'first come, first served', and many of these spots were placed, ordered on May 3rd, and May 7th was the last day of the campaign period. So there has been many previous telecast orders that were already ahead, that came in ahead of the President's telecast order," he pointed out.
Katigbak said that they were able to return about P4 million of the P7-million unaired ad placement. As for the remaining P2.6 million, Katigbak said Duterte declined to accept it when they were returning his money.
Go confirmed this, showing to the Senate panel the check from ABS-CBN. He said Duterte refused "because elections were over."
"On this issue, we acknowledge our shortcoming that we were not able to release the refund in a timely manner. And we corrected that, so in 2019, our policy is seven days, if your spot is not aired, the check should be back to the client or advertiser within seven days," Katigbak said.
As for its decision to broadcast Trillanes' advertisement against Duterte's presidential bid, Katigbak noted that the Fair Elections Act -- which Go also quoted to call out ABS-CBN -- recognizes as "lawful" the election propaganda by television or radio "for or against a candidate."
"That, to us, was our first reason why our internal committee gave a green light to the ad," he said.
The ABS-CBN chief also recalled that they had to reject the initial version of the Trillanes-sponsored advertisement against Duterte "because we felt that the children were performing inappropriate actions or behaviors."
They later approved the revised version in which the children featured were merely asking questions, he said.
Katigbak added that another reason for allowing the advertisement to air, was that "under the KBP code, we are required not to discriminate against any candidate."
"In other words, any candidate that comes to our station with an ad that is legal and legitimate, must be accommodated," he said.
Katigbak denied Go's claim that they are engaging in "black propaganda" against Duterte.
"Today, we want to make a categorical statement, with our chairman, Mark Lopez, that ABS-CBN does not, and will not have its own political agenda," he said.
Senator Grace Poe, Public Services Committee chair, said that while she has also been a victim of a similar campaign ad, it would be "difficult" to prevent negative political ads from airing.
"Masakit talaga pag nagkakarong ng ine-ere na kontra sayo o maaring makasira sayo, subalit kung ito naman ay makatitigan, may basehan, eh siguro mahirap pigilan," Poe, who also ran for president in the 2016 national elections, said.
The Kapisanan ng Broadkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), which the ABS-CBN is a member of, said political ads are not covered by the guidelines set by the MTCRB and Ad Standards Council.
Despite his allegations against ABS-CBN, Go said he would also appeal to Duterte to allow the media network to continue operating "for the simple reason na ayaw ko na may mawalan ng trabaho (that I don't want people to lose jobs)."
ABSCBN President and CEO Carlo Katigbak during the senate hearing on ABSCBN Franchise renewal on Monday. Photo by Jansen Romero/ MANIL BULLETIN
At the Senate public services committee's hearing on the media network's legislative franchise, ABS-CBN president and chief executive officer (CEO) Carlo Katigbak said the company was sorry, although he maintained that they were only complying with existing laws and regulations about political advertisements.
"We were sorry if we offended the President, that was not the intention of the network, we felt that we were just abiding by the laws and regulations that surround the airing of political ads," Katigbak said before the Senate panel.
Katigbak was earlier confronted by long-time Duterte aide and Senator Christopher Go about the Chief Executive's issue with the broadcast company.
Go accused the network of engaging in "black propaganda" to malign then presidential candidate Duterte by prioritizing the ad paid for by former senator and staunch administration critic Antonio Trillanes IV.
"Hindi mababaw ang rason ng Pangulo sa kanyang grievances against the network. Nasaktan ang Presidente. Nababoy ang Presidente. Hindi vindictive ang Pangulo, but it is clear that someone went overboard in trying to malign him," he said, clarifying to his colleagues Duterte's sentiment.
Echoing Duterte's call for "fair" reporting, the neophyte senator told the broadcast network: "Kung masama ka sa pangulo, maging mas masama siya sa iyo. Kung mabait ka kay pangulo, mas mabait sya sa inyo."
Katigbak, in response, explained that the network offers two kinds of political ad spots to candidates: the national ads, or those that would be aired all over the country with 19 minutes of airtime per hour; and the local ads, which are aired over specific provinces at two minutes per hour.
He recalled that Duterte had placed P117 million worth of national ads in the television station, all of which were accommodated and aired during the campaign period.
It was on Duterte's local ad placement that ABS-CBN "had a problem" Katigbak said, as he cited restraints with the two-minute-per-hour airtime.
The network failed to air P7 million of the P65-million ad placements paid for by Duterte.
"Our policy on all our ads is 'first come, first served', and many of these spots were placed, ordered on May 3rd, and May 7th was the last day of the campaign period. So there has been many previous telecast orders that were already ahead, that came in ahead of the President's telecast order," he pointed out.
Katigbak said that they were able to return about P4 million of the P7-million unaired ad placement. As for the remaining P2.6 million, Katigbak said Duterte declined to accept it when they were returning his money.
Go confirmed this, showing to the Senate panel the check from ABS-CBN. He said Duterte refused "because elections were over."
"On this issue, we acknowledge our shortcoming that we were not able to release the refund in a timely manner. And we corrected that, so in 2019, our policy is seven days, if your spot is not aired, the check should be back to the client or advertiser within seven days," Katigbak said.
As for its decision to broadcast Trillanes' advertisement against Duterte's presidential bid, Katigbak noted that the Fair Elections Act -- which Go also quoted to call out ABS-CBN -- recognizes as "lawful" the election propaganda by television or radio "for or against a candidate."
"That, to us, was our first reason why our internal committee gave a green light to the ad," he said.
The ABS-CBN chief also recalled that they had to reject the initial version of the Trillanes-sponsored advertisement against Duterte "because we felt that the children were performing inappropriate actions or behaviors."
They later approved the revised version in which the children featured were merely asking questions, he said.
Katigbak added that another reason for allowing the advertisement to air, was that "under the KBP code, we are required not to discriminate against any candidate."
"In other words, any candidate that comes to our station with an ad that is legal and legitimate, must be accommodated," he said.
Katigbak denied Go's claim that they are engaging in "black propaganda" against Duterte.
"Today, we want to make a categorical statement, with our chairman, Mark Lopez, that ABS-CBN does not, and will not have its own political agenda," he said.
Senator Grace Poe, Public Services Committee chair, said that while she has also been a victim of a similar campaign ad, it would be "difficult" to prevent negative political ads from airing.
"Masakit talaga pag nagkakarong ng ine-ere na kontra sayo o maaring makasira sayo, subalit kung ito naman ay makatitigan, may basehan, eh siguro mahirap pigilan," Poe, who also ran for president in the 2016 national elections, said.
The Kapisanan ng Broadkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), which the ABS-CBN is a member of, said political ads are not covered by the guidelines set by the MTCRB and Ad Standards Council.
Despite his allegations against ABS-CBN, Go said he would also appeal to Duterte to allow the media network to continue operating "for the simple reason na ayaw ko na may mawalan ng trabaho (that I don't want people to lose jobs)."