Journalists hold 'Black Friday protest' in support of ABS-CBN

Journalists on Friday rallied behind ABS-CBN Corp. urging Congress to “repudiate” President Rodrigo Duterte’s “vindictive assault” and extend the media company’s franchise, which is set to expire at the end of March this year.

Duterte has repeatedly said he would object to ABS-CBN's franchise renewal.

The Manila Times, citing “unimpeachable sources” in the judiciary, also reported that Solicitor General Jose Calida was set to ask the Supreme Court to revoke ABS-CBN’s existing franchise.

A number of National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) members gathered near the ABS-CBN office in Quezon City, Friday evening in support of the media network.

The group demanded Congress to “prove itself as an independent and co-equal branch by repudiating Duterte's vindictive assault on ABS-CBN and passing the bill to renew its franchise.”

The NUJP described the threats against ABS-CBN as part of a bigger effort by the administration to “suppress critical media.”

Aside from ABS-CBN, news website Rappler and the Philippine Daily Inquirer have been repeatedly attacked by the president and his supporters because of unfavorable reports.

Duterte, in a televised address last December 30, said owners of ABS-CBN should just sell the network.

A House committee headed by Rep. Franz Alvarez has yet to act on 8 bills seeking another 25-year franchise for the network, which was also shut down during the Marcos dictatorship.

Lawmakers have only 24 regular session days to act on the proposals after returning to work on Jan. 20.

Eleven House members earlier filed a resolution in support of ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal, which has been in limbo since the president began repeated tirades against it over a political ad that was not aired in 2016.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman had said Duterte should air his “personal grievances” against the network with the “proper judicial or administrative forum... instead of imposing an extrajudicial killing of the freedom of the press.”

ABS-CBN operates free TV Channel 2 and Radio DZMM.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/17/20/journalists-hold-black-friday-protest-in-support-of-abs-cbn

DOJ chief: Cabinet never discussed ‘quo warranto’ vs ABS-CBN

‍‍‍Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said filing a “quo warranto” petition before the Supreme Court to revoke the franchise of media giant ABS-CBN was “never” discussed in Cabinet meetings.

“The renewal or nonrenewal of the ABS-CBN franchise was casually mentioned in a Cabinet meeting several months ago, but the filing of a quo warranto petition has never been discussed at all,” Guevarra told reporters on Thursday. —DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1214355/doj-chief-cabinet-never-discussed-quo-warranto-vs-abs-cbn

Govt lawyers ready to throw book at ABS-CBN

Issues over ownership, transfer of shares and violations of the terms of its franchise are among the legal questions that confront the giant ABS-CBN media network in the case that the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is poised to file before the Supreme Court.

A source familiar with the case told The Manila Times two draft petitions were being prepared by the OSG seeking the revocation of ABS-CBN’s franchise.

The source said the petitions were supposed to be filed on Thursday, but the OSG decided to put it off.

The Times learned some members of the Duterte Cabinet expressed reservations against the filing of the petitions, since ABS-CBN’s legislative franchise expires in March and they wanted Congress to deal with the issue.

The source said a particularly sticky issue is whether ABS-CBN Corp. sold Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) to non-Filipinos.

Media entities like ABS-CBN must be 100-percent Filipino corporations.

“ABS CBN Corp. issued PDRs in violation of the mass media foreign ownership restriction.” the source said.

It harked back to the case of Rappler, an online news organization, which the government accused of violating the Foreign Equity Restrictions on Mass Media after it issued over seven million PDRs covering shares of Rappler Inc. sold to US-based Omidyar Network Fund LLC.

The Times source said ABS-CBN Corp. also “violated the terms of its franchise by offering pay per view channels via TV Plus”, which is supposed to be used for free by the public. TV Plus is a digital cable app that ABS-CBN sells for more than P1,000.

The OSG might also lean on the issue of ABS-CBN Convergence, whose transfer of shares was allegedly not approved by Congress, the source said.

The source added that ABS-CBN Convergence had been operating without congressional approval and violated the Constitution after it was acquired from a mother company.

Another issue that could be included in the petition is the violation of Section 4 of ABS-CBN’s charter that covers “Honest Enterprise.”

This issue has nettled President Rodrigo Duterte, who claimed his political ads in 2016 were not aired by the network, despite being fully paid. Duterte said he was defrauded by ABS-CBN.

But Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo on Thursday said the President had nothing to do with the OSG petitions.

“You must remember that the job of the SolGen (Solicitor General) is to file the appropriate petitions when he sees or feels that there’s a transgression of franchises or any law for that matter,” he told reporters.

The President has repeatedly criticized ABS-CBN for not airing his campaign ad and replacing it with a TV spot that was critical of him and was paid by his critic, former senator Antonio Trillanes 4th.

In a speech last December, Duterte stressed the network should not expect its franchise to be renewed.

“ABS-CBN, you’re a mouthpiece of… Ang inyong franchise, mag-end next year (Your franchise will expire next year). If you are expecting ma-renew ‘yan (that it will be renewed), I’m sorry. I will see to it that you’re out,” he said.

The network’s franchise expires in March. A bill is pending in Congress for its renewal.
Trillanes had alleged that Duterte logged about P1 billion worth of transactions using various bank accounts. The President denied the allegations.

On several occasions in the past, Duterte has raised the issue and said if he had his way, he would not renew ABS-CBN’s franchise.

Radio and television broadcasters are required to acquire a franchise from Congress.

House Committee on Public Accounts Chairman and Anakalusagan party-list Rep. Michael Defensor claimed the move of the OSG to revoke the legislative franchise of ABS-CBN sent a “clear signal” that the Chief Executive opposes the network’s franchise extension.

“The legal action taken by the executive, the OSG representing the Republic, is a step beyond the utterances of Malacañang. In the hearings to be conducted by the Legislative Franchise Committee, you now have the officers of the ABS-CBN network squared off with the officials of the Office of the Solicitor General. However, assuming that Congress, Senate and House, still approves the renewal, the President may veto the bill which renders it futile,” he said.

With the move, Bayan Muna said the OSG had become a biased institution and has become Duterte’s “private law firm” being used for his “political vendetta.”

Bayan Muna Chairman and former lawmaker Neri Comenares said the OSG had devoted so much time to people Duterte considers as his enemies such as chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Rappler, Trillianes and Sen. Leila de Lima. He said the OSG, however, “refused to devote any effort against Duterte allies” like Gen. Oscar Albayalde or those involved in corruption or diverting public funds to “pork barrel.”

“When Duterte is being attacked, his men are restless. But if the people are being attacked, it’s okay,” Colmenares said.

He challenged the OSG to file quo warranto cases against public utilities found to have committed acts against the interest of the Filipino people.

“The OSG should first file quo warranto cases against public utilities like Meralco (Manila Electric Co.), Manila Water [Co. Inc.] and Maynilad [Water Services Inc.], which have a major impact on the people’s suffering not only from inefficient service, but also, expensive electricity and water rates,” Colmenares said.

Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite earlier said the Duterte administration should stop harassing the network.

WITH CATHERINE S. VALENTE AND DIVINA NOVA JOY DELA CRUZ

https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/01/17/news/national/govt-laywers-ready-to-throw-book-at-abs-cbn/675075/