{"id":253992,"date":"2020-05-05T20:34:19","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T00:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=253992"},"modified":"2020-05-05T20:34:19","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T00:34:19","slug":"senators-weigh-in-on-ntcs-order-vs-abs-cbn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/05\/senators-weigh-in-on-ntcs-order-vs-abs-cbn\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators weigh in on NTC\u2019s order vs. ABS-CBN"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cABS-CBN should bring the matter before the Supreme Court,\u201d he said. (File photo by Judgefloro\/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Several senators on Tuesday expressed varying opinions after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) ordered ABS-CBN Corp. to stop its television and radio broadcast operations due to the expiration of its congressional franchise on May 4.<\/p>\n

Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go said the matter of allowing ABS-CBN to operate after the NTC order is “now with the House of Representatives.”<\/p>\n

“There is a bill seeking to renew the franchise of the media corporation now pending before the Lower House. Now that session has already resumed, I am urging the House of Representatives to act on this matter with due haste,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“Upon reaching the Senate and once we have had a chance to conduct our own hearings on the matter, that is when I will decide and vote according to my conscience and the interest of the Filipino people,” Go said.<\/p>\n

Senator Grace Poe echoed Go\u2019s position, saying the ball is in the court of the House where legislative franchises emanate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a problem with us solving this issue,\u201d she said, referring to the Senate.<\/p>\n

Poe, however, expressed fears that the development may lead to the displacement of thousands of ABS-CBN workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is another angle that needs to be looked at by the NTC.\u00a0Ngayon pa sila magpapasara kung kailan ang daming walang trabaho<\/em>\u00a0(They ordered the stoppage at a time when many have no jobs),\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the NTC order is \u201cirregular and improper\u201d amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m really saddened by the move of NTC. We can cite many instances when the NTC granted provisional authority for those still applying for their franchises,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Zubiri said the network company could go to the Supreme Court and cite these \u201cinstances\u201d to ask for a temporary restraining order (TRO).<\/p>\n

Senator Sonny Angara said the NTC order \u201cseems ill-advised and heavy-handed\u201d from the standpoint of law and public policy.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that both the Senate and the House, and even the Department of Justice (DOJ), have issued resolutions and opinions favoring the issuance of a provisional authority for the media entity to operate pending congressional deliberations on its legislative franchise renewal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is the risk of many people losing their jobs or livelihoods in what is a very difficult economic environment. People will also lose a valuable source of reliable information in the middle of a pandemic when our people need reliable information more than ever,\u201d Angara said.<\/p>\n

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the NTC’s cease-and-desist order (CDO) \u201cis ill-timed and insensitive to the needs of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe delivery of timely and correct information is essential to our Covid-19 response. This shutdown order goes against public welfare,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon condemned the NTC order as \u201ccontrary to law and grave abuse of discretion.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that there is enough precedent where a provisional authority has been issued while the application for renewal of the franchise is pending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Secretary of Justice himself said that with the concurrence of the two Houses with the matter pending, the NTC can issue the provisional authority,\u201d Drilon said.<\/p>\n

Senator Francis Pangilinan echoed Drilon in saying that the NTC action was \u201chighly irregular\u201d and \u201cgrave abuse of discretion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cABS-CBN should bring the matter before the Supreme Court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a CDO dated May 5, the NTC said ABS-CBN should “stop operating its various TV and radio broadcasting stations nationwide ‘absent a valid Congressional Franchise as required by law’.”<\/p>\n

The order covers 42 television stations across the country, including the flagship Channel 2, 10 digital broadcast channels, 18 FM stations, and 5 AM stations.<\/p>\n

The NTC gave the network 10 days from receipt of the order “to respond as to why the frequencies assigned to it should not be recalled.”<\/p>\n

ABS-CBN said it will stop its broadcast operations Tuesday night in compliance with the NTC order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Several senators on Tuesday expressed varying opinions after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) ordered ABS-CBN Corp. to stop its …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":246102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-jose-cielito-reganit","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253993,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253992\/revisions\/253993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}