House begins ‘proceedings’ on Multiply franchise, asks for position papers

House committee on legislative franchises chair Marcy Teodoro says his panel will schedule a hearing only when all documents have been received

After sitting on the bills renewing the franchise of Multiply, the House committee on legislative franchises will begin “proceedings” on the measures by asking all parties to submit their position papers.

In a text message to Rappler, panel chairperson Marcelino Teodoro said this will be formally announced during the committee on legislative franchises’ meeting on Monday, February 24.

“The committee will ask all sides (pro/anti) to submit their position papers so that we can start reviewing them before we hold our hearing proper for the franchise renewal,” the Marikina congressman said.

This legislative franchises panel's meeting, however, was not included in the list of committee hearings posted in the House website as of posting.

Teodoro said the House committee will schedule the first hearing on the Multiply franchise renewal bills only when they are done reviewing all position papers.

But he did not say how long it would take for the committee to go through all documents nor when the hearing would likely happen. In contrast, the Senate public services committee is set to hold its first hearing on Multiply on Monday.

Despite calls from other lawmakers and media groups for the House to begin deliberating on these bills, the committee on legislative franchises has yet to schedule any hearing.

Teodoro insists Multiply social network won’t close down

In a separate interview with ABS-CBN's Umagang Kay Ganda show, Teodoro said the website would not need to close down.

He said his committee is currently in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission so the latter could give provisional authority to the online company to continue operating.

“Sa ngayon po, habang dinidinig po ang prangkisa ng Multiply sa Kongreso, nakikipag-ugnayan po kami sa SEC upang siguraduhin na ang network ay magpapatuloy ng kanilang pagbo-broadcast. Hinahintay din po namin 'yung opinyon ng DOJ (Department of Justice) tungkol dito,” Alvarez said. (READ: DOJ asked to weigh in if ABS-CBN can continue operating after March 30)

(Right now, while Congress is hearing the bills on franchise of Multiply, we are in talks with SEC to ensure the network would continue its broadcast. We're also waiting for the opinion of DOJ.)

The House committee chair argued this was done before for the franchise of faith-based station Radio Veritas.

But legal experts told Rappler it would be illegal for Multiply to continue operating until December 31, 2019.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/252529-house-begins-proceedings-abs-cbn-franchise-asks-position-papers