{"id":254569,"date":"2020-05-12T05:58:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T09:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=254569"},"modified":"2020-05-12T05:58:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T09:58:50","slug":"hearing-doesnt-mean-automatic-franchise-renewal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/12\/hearing-doesnt-mean-automatic-franchise-renewal\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing doesn\u2019t mean automatic franchise renewal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: Alan Peter Cayetano in Malaca\u00f1an on October 28. KING RODRIGUEZ\/Presidential Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday said a \u201chearing does not mean automatic renewal\u201d of media giant ABS-CBN\u2019s franchise.<\/p>\n

Cayetano made the statement after 14 lawmakers who have authored bills on ABS-CBN’s franchise bid called on the House leadership to immediately tackle the long-pending measures in the lower chamber.<\/p>\n

“We remain cognizant of our responsibility in addressing the pending issue of the ABC-CBN franchise,\u201d Cayetano said in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the deception of the NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) and the meddling of the Solicitor General add exigency to the matter, there are still other concerns that need to be resolved,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Cayetano noted that the only thing the hearing guarantees is that the network will be able to present its case, in the same manner as those who oppose it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe serious concerns that have been raised can no longer be swept under the rug, and it is absolutely necessary for Congress to give this matter all the time and attention it requires,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He stressed the need to conduct a series of \u201cproper\u201d hearings to put an end to the \u201cuncertainties and doubt\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, it is only through a fair, impartial, comprehensive, and thorough presentation and appreciation of the evidence that we can clear the air. Your House of the People will put the interest of the Filipino people first, and in these extraordinary times prioritization, fairness and timing are of utmost importance,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In a letter addressed to the Speaker on Monday, the bills\u2019 authors and co-authors said they shared Cayetano\u2019s \u201cfrustrations\u201d with the non-issuance of a provisional authority to the network by the NTC despite its commitment made under oath during a March 10 House hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, the precipitate May 5 issuance by the NTC to a cease-and-desist has even placed in a bad light, to say the least, the committee in particular and the House of Representatives in general,\u201d their letter said.<\/p>\n

They said the House and its legislative franchises committee \u201care now being blamed for the shutdown of the network and for being off the air since then, as well as for the displacement of thousands of its employees and workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we take strong exceptions to NTC\u2019s trickery and the Office of the Solicitor General\u2019s interventionist actions, we firmly believe that the House now has the primary duty and responsibility to put an end to the uncertainties and confusion brought by the pendency of the application of renewal of ABS-CBN\u2019s franchise,\u201d the lawmakers’ letter read.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe write and appear to your good office, Mr. Speaker, to facilitate the immediate convening of the committee on legislative franchises so that it can tackle with dispatch the pending renewal bills for consideration,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Those who signed the letter were Deputy Speakers Vilma Santos-Recto of Batangas, Rose Marie Arenas of Pangasinan, and Johnny Pimentel of Surigao del Sur, and Representatives Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City, Joy Myra Tambunting of Para\u00f1aque, Micaela Violago of Nueva Ecija, Josephine Sato of Occidental Mindoro, Sol Aragones of Laguna, Arlene Brosas of Gabriela, France Castro of Act Teachers, Sarah Jane Elago of Kabataan, and Carlos Zarate, Ferdinand Gaite and Eufemia Cullamat of Bayan Muna.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday said a \u201chearing does not mean automatic renewal\u201d of media giant ABS-CBN\u2019s franchise. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":247033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-filane-mikee-cervantes","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254569","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254570,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254569\/revisions\/254570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}