Militant group Defend Jobs Philippines on Thursday welcomed media professionals and celebrities in supporting calls for the renewal of the franchise of media giant ABS-CBN.

“If there is a positive effect of the continuing delays and attempts to block the granting of renewed franchise for ABS-CBN, it could have been the growing unity of media workers and celebrities to defend free press and the livelihoods of more than 11,000 Kapamilya workers,” said statement of labor group, Defend Jobs Philippines.

The statement  was made amid the series of statements from various press corps, media groups and celebrities from different television networks supporting the call for franchise renewal of ABS-CBN for the sake of the protection of press freedom and of the employment of the media network’s workers.

In a related development, the militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) will hold a “Red Hearts Day for Press Freedom and Media Workers” rally at the ABS-CBN in Quezon City on Friday afternoon.

“On Valentine’s Day, Kilusang Mayo Uno calls on workers, advocates and freedom-loving Filipinos to join the solidarity action to defend ABS-CBN as a media institution, its workers and freedom of the press against harassment and a serious threat of a shutdown of the outfit by the Duterte Government,” said the KMU.

The rally will be held  on Friday, February 14, 2020, at 5:00 pm, at the ABS-CBN compound along Sgt Esguerra Gate. Participants were  urged to  wear red shirts.

Just few days after Solicitor General Jose Calida filed a quo warranto petition at the Supreme Court to demand for the revocation of the ABS-CBN franchise last Monday, local media workers at the Philippine National Police, Department of National Defense, Malacañang Palace, Justice and Court Reporters press corps, among others, have already released statements of support for their media colleagues and for ABS-CBN fresh renewed franchise.

Aside from foreign and local journalists, Defend Jobs Philippines also noted the loud support of celebrities and artists from different media networks to the Kapamilya network’s franchise renewal.

Some of the artists who broke the TV network wars were Kapuso celebs Dingdong Dantes, Eugene Domingo, Aiko Melendez, Atom Araullo and others who added up their voice to numbers of Kapamilya artists in supporting ABS-CBN. Various artists, broadcasters and management groups also expressed solidarity to the Kapamilya network.

“The growing clamor from media workers and artists to renew the legislative franchise of ABS-CBN is a welcome development and an instrumental force to give further pressure to the members of Congress and to the Duterte government,” said Thadeus Ifurung, Defend Jobs Philippines.

“We call on the Filipino people to remain vigilant and express their oppositions against the looming shutdown of ABS-CBN once its franchise will not be renewed by the end of March 2020,” said Ifurung.

Defend Jobs Philippines vowed  to continue joining in the series of weekly Black Friday Protests of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and ABS-CBN workers. /Stacy Ang