{"id":254164,"date":"2020-05-07T06:19:51","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T10:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=254164"},"modified":"2020-05-07T06:19:51","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T10:19:51","slug":"abs-cbn-closure-not-prelude-to-martial-law-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/07\/abs-cbn-closure-not-prelude-to-martial-law-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"ABS-CBN closure not prelude to martial law: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The television and radio stations of ABS-CBN went off air on Tuesday after the NTC issued a cease and desist order against the local media giant after its 25-year legislative franchise expired on Monday. (File photo by patrickroque001\/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The shutdown of local broadcasting giant ABS-CBN Corp. is not a prelude to the declaration of martial law, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque issued the statement following the claim of Bishop Broderick Pabillo, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila, that the closure of ABS-CBN is a move closer to martial rule.<\/p>\n

In a virtual presser aired on state-run PTV-4, Roque said ABS-CBN\u2019s shutdown is not the same as the media network\u2019s closure when the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972.<\/p>\n

\u201cSa tingin ko po, malayung-malayo tayo sa sitwasyon ng<\/em>\u00a0martial law\u00a0noong<\/em>\u00a01972 (I believe we\u2019re very far from the situation when martial law was declared in 1972),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Pabillo, in a Facebook post on Tuesday, said the National Telecommunications Commission\u2019s (NTC) order for ABS-CBN to cease its broadcast operations nationwide sends a \u201cchilling\u201d message that \u201cnews and information outlets should kowtow to those in power, or else, they will be brought down.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also claimed that ABS-CBN\u2019s case is \u201cpolitically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pabillo said: \u201cThe specter of martial law is coming up! This action of government is not uniting the people. In fact, it is using the [coronavirus disease] pandemic as a cover for its dastardly deed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roque denied Pabillo\u2019s allegations, stressing that ABS-CBN has to stop the operations of its television and radio broadcasting stations because the network\u2019s franchise already expired on May 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cBukas po ang mga<\/em>\u00a0media outlet\u00a0bukod lang po sa<\/em>\u00a0ABS-CBN\u00a0dahil nawalan nga siya ng prangkisa<\/em>\u00a0(Other media outlets are open, except ABS-CBN because it no longer has a franchise),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The television and radio stations of ABS-CBN went off air on Tuesday after the NTC issued a cease and desist order against the local media giant after its 25-year legislative franchise expired on Monday.<\/p>\n

Some critics have likened the NTC\u2019s latest order to ABS-CBN\u2019s last closure in 1972 when the Marcos administration seized the broadcast firm from the Lopezes.<\/p>\n

Roque maintained that President Rodrigo Duterte had no hand in NTC\u2019s decision against ABS-CBN.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately,\u00a0tanging ang<\/em>\u00a0NTC\u00a0lang ang pupuwedeng magbigay ng desisyon at tanging mga hukuman lang ang pupuwedeng bumaligtad sa desisyon na iyan<\/em>\u00a0(Ultimately, only the NTC can make a decision and only competent courts can reverse the ruling),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The House of Representatives failed to act on the 11 pending bills seeking the renewal of ABS-BCN’s franchise that expired Monday.<\/p>\n

Roque was confident that lawmakers would take appropriate actions on ABS-CBN\u2019s bid to renew its franchise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng solusyon, kinakailangan hingin ng<\/em>\u00a0ABS-CBN\u00a0ang kaniyang prangkisa sa Kongreso<\/em>\u00a0(The solution is ABS-CBN must ask a new franchise from Congress),\u201d he said. \u201cHindi naman po bulag at hindi naman bingi ang inyong mga representante sa hinaing ng mga taumbayan (Your lawmakers will not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear).\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Roque said Duterte has given the assurance that his allies in Congress can \u201cvote as they wish\u201d on ABS-CBN\u2019s franchise.<\/p>\n

Roque also said Duterte has no reason to veto the bill granting a new 25-year franchise to ABS-CBN Corp. once it reaches his table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The shutdown of local broadcasting giant ABS-CBN Corp. is not a prelude to the declaration of martial law, Malaca\u00f1ang …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":239442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254164","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\/254164","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=254164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254165,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254164\/revisions\/254165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}