{"id":254018,"date":"2020-05-06T03:26:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T07:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=254018"},"modified":"2020-05-06T03:26:54","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T07:26:54","slug":"prrd-wants-solons-to-vote-as-they-wish-on-abs-cbn-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/06\/prrd-wants-solons-to-vote-as-they-wish-on-abs-cbn-franchise\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD wants solons to \u2018vote as they wish\u2019 on ABS-CBN franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malaca\u00f1ang on April 20, 2020. ACE MORANDANTE\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo R. Duterte has assured his allies in Congress that he would not hold a grudge against those who would vote in favor of the franchise renewal of embattled broadcast firm ABS-CBN, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The assurance came after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Tuesday ordered the network to halt the operations of its television and radio broadcasting stations nationwide following the expiration of its franchise.<\/p>\n

In an interview with ABS News Channel (ANC), Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque noted that the NTC\u2019s decision is \u201cappealable\u201d to the courts but not to Duterte\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

He nonetheless said Duterte is \u201ccompletely neutral\u201d and would let his allies in Congress \u201cvote as they wish\u201d when they begin the deliberations on the pending bills seeking the renewal of ABS-CBN\u2019s franchise.<\/p>\n

The President gave the guarantee during his 20-minute conversation with Roque on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Duterte) really is neutral and (wants) to let all his allies know that he will not hold it against them. It will not endear him either way. They can vote as they wish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The NTC, in a cease-and-desist order dated May 5, said ABS-CBN must cease its broadcast operations \u201cdue to the expiration of its congressional franchise\u201d on May 4.<\/p>\n

It ordered ABS-CBN, which has more than 11,000 employees, to halt the operations of its 42 television stations across the country, 10 digital broadcast channels, 18 FM stations, and five AM stations.<\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte has no power to reverse the NTC\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

In an interview with state-run PTV-4, he said it is a \u201ccrime\u201d to control the NTC, which he emphasized has \u201ccomplete independence\u201d in exercising quasi-judicial powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a form of graft and a violation of (the) Code of Ethics for government employees if the President intervenes in the decision-making of the National Telecommunications Commission,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

No curtailment of press freedom<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque quashed claims that ABS-CBN\u2019s shutdown is a brazen attempt by the Duterte government to curtail press freedom.<\/p>\n

He also denied that the previous warning of Solicitor General Jose Calida against the NTC had influenced the commission\u2019s latest ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi po tayo nagpasara. Pinagsara po ang<\/em>\u00a0ABS-CBN\u00a0dahil wala itong prangkisa<\/em>\u00a0(We did not order its closure. The ABS-CBN had to stop operating because it no longer had a franchise),\u201d Roque said. \u201cHindi po nag<\/em>-influence\u00a0si<\/em>\u00a0Calida.\u00a0Sumulat po siya<\/em>\u00a0(Calida did not influence [the NTC\u2019s decision]. He wrote to NTC), that\u2019s in due course of his job. He is perfectly within his right to write.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calida earlier warned the NTC against granting ABS-CBN provisional authority to operate after the expiration of the broadcast firm\u2019s franchise.<\/p>\n

Duterte would have granted ABS-CBN the provisional authority to operate beyond franchise lapse, had he given the authority to do so, he said.<\/p>\n

Roque, however, noted that Duterte couldn’t give ABS-CBN the provisional permit to operate.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung talagang kakayaning ibigay ng Presidente mismo ang prangkisa, bakit hindi<\/em>\u00a0(If only the President can grant [ABS-CBN] the franchise, why not)?\u201d he said. \u201cKahit gusto pong makapagbigay ng prangkisa ang Presidente mismo, wala po siyang ganyang kapangyarihan<\/em>\u00a0(Even though the President wants to give the franchise, he has no such power).\u201d<\/p>\n

Franchise bills won\u2019t be certified as urgent<\/strong><\/p>\n

ABS-CBN\u2019s franchise expired on May 4 following the House of Representatives\u2019 failure to act on the 11 pending bills that seek to renew the 25-year franchise of the local media giant.<\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte could not certify the franchise bills as urgent because of \u201cprivate interest\u201d involving ABS-CBN.<\/p>\n

Thus, it is improper to certify as urgent the bills for the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve not seen any franchise bill to have been certified as urgent by the President. So in that sense, no certification is forthcoming because it is for all intended purposes a private bill that grants a privilege to a private company. I don\u2019t think it is proper to have it certified as urgent,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Only the legislative branch has the \u201cprimary and exclusive\u201d power to decide on ABS-CBN\u2019s fate, he said, adding that the House can now start deliberating on the pending franchise bills since the session of Congress resumed on May 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cKayang gawin nila iyan sa lalong mabilis na panahon<\/em>\u00a0(They can do that at the soonest time possible),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Workers might qualify for gov\u2019t aid<\/strong><\/p>\n

To help the displaced workers of ABS-CBN, Roque said the Palace would coordinate with the Department of Labor and Employment.<\/p>\n

He said ABS-CBN employees affected by the closure order might also apply for the government\u2019s Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) Program, under which the government would provide a wage subsidy of PHP5,000 to PHP8,000 per month to each eligible employee in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).<\/p>\n

\u201cBaka maipasok po natin sila<\/em>\u00a0(ABS-CBN workers)\u00a0doon sa programa ng<\/em>\u00a0SMEs\u00a0para makakuha po sila ng panandaliang dalawang buwan na ayuda<\/em>\u00a0(Perhaps, they could qualify for the program for SMEs so they can get government assistance for two months),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo R. Duterte has assured his allies in Congress that he would not hold a grudge against those …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":253081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254018","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=254018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254026,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254018\/revisions\/254026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}