House leaders, NTC say ABS-CBN may operate without new franchise

THE House of Representatives and the National Telecommunications Communication (NTC) on Tuesday gave assurances that ABS-CBN Corp. will be allowed to continue its operations beyond May 4, 2020.

During the meeting of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises on 11 pending bills renewing the franchise of the ABS-CBN, NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said the agency will heed the opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to allow the network to continue operations.

“The NTC will follow the latest advice of the DOJ and let ABS-CBN continue operations based on equity,” he said.

With this, Cordoba said the NTC will “most likely” issue a provisional authority to the TV network.

“Based on the foregoing discussion, there is sufficient equitable basis to allow broadcast entities to continue operating while the bills for the renewal of their respective franchise remain pending with Congress,” Cordoba said, citing the opinion of the DOJ.

However, Congress is schedule to take a Lenten break starting March 12 without approving the franchise of ABS-CBN. The session will resume on May 4. The ABS-CBN franchise is also set to expire on May 4.

Adopt

During the hearing, the House committee approved a motion to adopt a letter enjoining the agency to grant a provisional authority to operate effective from May 4, 2020 until such time that Congress has made a decision on its application.

Cayetano, meanwhile, gave assurances that the House would conduct its hearing in “a fair, objective, and transparent manner.”

“We definitely did the right thing to focus on more important issues. We want a continuous hearing, not a circus. The issue is really contentious and emotional,” Cayetano said.

“Second, innocent until proven guilty. As far as we are concerned, there is still no violation so there is no reason in this world the NTC should shut them down,” he added.

Cayetano also reiterated his call for the submission of position papers on the ABS-CBN franchise until April 15, 2020.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/03/11/house-leaders-ntc-say-abs-cbn-may-operate-without-new-franchise/