{"id":261078,"date":"2020-07-09T07:34:56","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T11:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=261078"},"modified":"2020-07-09T07:34:56","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T11:34:56","slug":"cayetano-warns-vs-media-owners-engaged-in-partisan-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/07\/09\/cayetano-warns-vs-media-owners-engaged-in-partisan-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Cayetano warns vs. media owners engaged in partisan politics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Senator Alan Peter Cayetano cites how efficient the foreign policy of President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s administration is during a press briefing in Malaca\u00f1an on October 28. KING RODRIGUEZ\/Presidential Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday warned against media owners who engage in partisan politics to protect business interests.<\/p>\n

During a House hearing on the summation of discussion on media giant ABS-CBN\u2019s franchise, Cayetano said the legislative proceedings showed the nation a \u201crare glimpse\u201d on the \u201cfragility\u201d of the country\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n

He noted that the network\u2019s franchise has a larger issue, particularly on the participation of big businesses and media on political partisanship.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Pag naging masyadong makapangyarihan po ang isang pribadong korporasyon, o isa pong mayaman, o makapangyarihan sa ating bansa, na parang siya na ang may-ari ng gobyerno<\/em>\u00a0(If a private corporation becomes too powerful or it has become rich and influential in our country as if it owns the government), it is an even bigger threat to our democracy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow shall we decide on claims that it will be a blow to press freedom if the owners of a private media corporation are denied the privilege of using public airwaves for a private business that protects their interest and supports their handpicked candidates while targeting those who oppose them?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He said ABS-CBN\u2019s franchise is not a press freedom issue, arguing that it is \u201ctheft of government from the people while hiding under the pretense of freedom of the press.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBig business, conjoined with commercial media should not be allowed to engage in partisan politics by wielding its power to protect their interest, meddle and interfere in elections, and surreptitiously support certain candidates in the guise of reporting the news,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Michael Defensor said voting against granting ABS-CBN a new franchise is a vote to \u201cstop the perpetuation of an oligarchy that continues to suppress our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga said the franchise hearings reveal that the issue is more than just press freedom as it involves other \u201csocial and moral\u201d implications such as the use of Philippine depositary receipts (PDRs) to circumvent the foreign ownership restrictions, and the corporate layering to hide behind tax shields.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the bigger issue would be the social and moral considerations of a big corporation like ABS-CBN Corp.\u00a0tungkol sa kanilang pamamalakad para sa bansang Pilipinas<\/em>\u00a0(about how they conduct their business for our country, the Philippines),\u201d Barzaga said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi lahat ng hinahayaan ng batas ay marangal<\/em>\u00a0(Not all those allowed by law [to operate] is honorable). We have so-called corporate social responsibility.\u00a0Meron din tayong<\/em>\u00a0(We still have) ethical and moral considerations,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, meanwhile, said the concerned government agencies have cleared up the issues surrounding ABS-CBN\u2019s franchise.<\/p>\n

\u201cMalinaw ang binanggit na mga inimbitahan nating<\/em>\u00a0resource persons\u00a0sa iba\u2019t-ibang<\/em>\u00a0regulatory agencies,\u00a0walang napatunayang pagkakasala ang<\/em>\u00a0ABS-CBN (The invited resource persons from different regulatory agencies have clearly said that ABS-CBN has committed no proven offense),\u201d Zarate said.<\/p>\n

The House hearings have discussed the network\u2019s franchise issues including the citizenship of ABS-CBN chair emeritus Gabby Lopez, reported labor and tax violations, and alleged political bias.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday warned against media owners who engage in partisan politics to protect business interests. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":247033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261078","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\/261078","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=261078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261079,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261078\/revisions\/261079"}],"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=261078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}