BY GERARD NAVAL and PETER TABINGO
CLOSE to 700 journalists and media personalities have signed a statement condemning the decision of the House of Representatives to junk the bid of media giant ABS-CBN Corporation for the renewal of its franchise.
The statement signed by at least 670 journalists said the members of the House committee on legislative franchises, which rejected the franchise renewal last Friday, put at risk the jobs of thousands of ABS-CBN workers.
ABS-CBN has said some 11,000 employees would be affected.
Opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay) said Congress let go of its power to grant or deny a legislative franchise to broadcast media, saying it never had any basis in the Constitution.
He called for the repeal of an 89-year-old law that requires radio stations, now including television stations, to secure a franchise from Congress in order to operate. Lagman on Sunday said the Radio Control Act of 1931, not the Constitution, requires broadcast stations to get a franchise from Congress.
“In order to insulate press freedom from partisan politics and foreclose any arbitrary denial by legislators of the grant and renewal of legislative franchises to mass media corporations, the Radio Control Act of 1931 must be repealed,” Lagman said.
The statement signed by journalists condemned “the unjust and cruel decision of the House committee that threatens the livelihood of workers as we are facing uncertainties due to the pandemic.”
Aside from potentially leaving several media men jobless, the journalists assailed the move of congressmen as they said it leaves a huge dent in the spirit of press freedom in the country.
They said the decision to deny ABS-CBN a new franchise was mainly brought about by the “whims and trivialities of those in power.”
“The role of a journalist in a democratic society is to keep the people well-informed to allow them to be free and self-governing, not to serve as any administration’s publicist,” they said.
“The rejection of ABS-CBN’s franchise bill sounds the death knell to a credible source of news and a huge attack on press freedom in the country,” they added.
In a vote of 70-11, the legislative franchises panel on Friday adopted the recommendation of its technical working group to reject bills seeking to renew the network’s 25-year franchise which expired on May 4.
The journalists said they believe there will come a time when the decision of the 70 lawmakers will haunt them.
“History will surely be cruel to the lawmakers, who voted against the franchise renewal of a network that was last shut down during the Marcos dictatorship,” they said.
“Victory came easy for the forces that conspired to bring down ABS-CBN. But the rehabilitation of the image of those condemned by history won’t, as it will be fraught with the collective wrath of a people who live by democracy and the rule of law,” they also said.
NTC AUTHORITY
Lagman said the government agency that should exercise the authority to evaluate the fitness of a media company to operate is the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC).
“The authority to grant certificates of public convenience and necessity to mass media enterprises, without the need for a prior legislative franchise, must be maintained with the National Telecommunications Commission under regulatory parameters which would ensure protection to press freedom,” he said.
At best, he said, any abuse of discretion by the NTC must be addressed by the courts rather than Congress.
He clarified that Section 11 of Article XII of the Constitution does not cover the operation of mass media because this provision applies only to public utilities with at least 60 percent capital owned by Filipinos.
“Mass media are not public utilities and are 100% Filipino owned and managed. There is no law or jurisprudence which categorically classifies television and radio networks as public utilities considering that the services of the latter, by nature, are for hire or compensation unlike mass media whose broadcasts are essentially free to the viewing public and subsidized by advertisements,” he said.
DITO TELECOM
Sen. Grace Poe said authorities should have just imposed penalties on ABS-CBN Corp. if it indeed committed violations and not deny outright its franchise renewal bid.
“If there was indeed violation of some kind, the NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) should have filed a case against them,” Poe said in interview with CNN Philippines.
Poe, chairwoman of the Senate public services committee, said Dito Telecommunity Corp., formerly called Mislatel, was given a franchise by Congress and allowed to operate despite its violations.
“When it acquired that franchise, part of the franchise agreement states that you should be in operation for a certain period. Mislatel was dormant for the longest time and yet Congress moved past that and granted them the franchise,” Poe said.
When the resolution on the franchise reached the Senate, Poe said senators saw the need of the telecommunications industry for a third player and gave Mislatel a chance but with certain safeguards.
“There are parameters but you should also be flexible in the name of public service, what can serve the most number of people, what interest will be upheld. If it will be just for personal vendetta or personal opinions about it, I don’t think it would be fair,” Poe said.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque rejected an observation of Vice President Leni Robredo that the rejection of ABS-CBN’s bid for a franchise is a “dictator move.”
“Alam po natin ang nangyari doon sa panahon ng martial law, may prangkisa po, ipinasara.
Pero ang nangyari po ngayon, napaso ang prangkisa, hindi po na-renew (We know what happened during martial law, even with a franchise, the agency was closed. But now, the franchise expired, it was not renewed),” he said.
He added that while one enjoys freedom of expression and there is a free press in the country, the operations of media networks require a franchise which will come from Congress. — With Raymond Africa and Jocelyn Montemayor
