“IT’s final,” a lawmaker at the House of Representatives said on Thursday when asked about the possibility of opening discussions on the franchise of shuttered media network ABS-CBN in the plenary next week.
House Committee on Legislative Franchises Chairman Franz Alvarez said his panel’s decision to reject the fresh grant of a 25-year permit to the network giant was “put to rest when the committee, voting 70-11, rejected the network’s franchise application on July 10, 2020”.
“Under the rules, anyone of the 70 House members who voted against the franchise application could file a motion for reconsideration on behalf of ABS-CBN to challenge the decision of the committee. Unfortunately, there was none, thus the Committee decision has become final,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
The possibility to tackle the ABS-CBN franchise in the plenary emerged when Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor raised a point of order during the House session on Wednesday, asking to resolve the committee report on House Bill (HB) 6732, which seeks to grant a temporary franchise to the network. He said the bill, one of the items listed in the body’s “unfinished business,” must be tackled first before proceeding with the business of the day.
Senior Deputy Majority Leader Jesus Crispin Remulla assured that the plenary would start taking up items in the unfinished business on the resumption of session on Monday next week.
But for Alvarez, HB 6732 is “moot and academic” as it had proposed to grant a provisional franchise up to Oct. 31, 2020.
“Based on my understanding from the House leadership, the ABS-CBN franchise issue is best left to the next Congress,” he said.
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