The rejection of ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal is “an act of tyranny” and is “against the freedom of speech and information”, think tank IBON Foundation said during the weekend.
“The government wants to keep the press in line by killing the country’s largest broadcasting network and intimidating those it hasn’t co-opted,” IBON said in a statement.
“It wants media parroting its self-serving political, economic, and social narratives,” it added.
The House Committee on Legislative Franchises voted to deny the franchise application of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, putting in peril the jobs of around 11,000 employees of the network.
Malacañang said it respects the decision of the House, where franchise bills emanate.
According to IBON, the government has underestimated the Filipino people.
“The people will keep fighting for the truth and against authoritarian rule,” it said.
On May 5, ABS-CBN went off air after it was issued a cease and desist order by the National Telecommunications Commission for its lack of franchise.
Its subsidiary, Sky Cable Corp., was also ordered to stop operations last month.
The House franchise committee’s decision to deny ABS-CBN Corp’s bid for a new broadcast license has “damaged people’s trust in the workings of the government,” Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said on Saturday.
In a statement, the former chief of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that members of the House of Representatives should have wielded their powers more responsibly.
“The President’s threats to close the station are a matter of public record. Now that the matter of the franchise has been dealt a final blow by the Lower House, can our people be blamed for the perception that Congress, supposedly a fiercely independent body of the people’s representatives, has bent over in subservience to the President?” he said.
“All power comes from God and therefore must be wielded responsibly. The exercise of power must always be ordered towards the common good.”
Members of the House franchise committee, after 12 lengthy joint hearings with the committee on good government, on Friday voted 70-11 to deny ABS-CBN’s fresh franchise application, shuttering the network’s broadcast business.
It was a fulfillment of President Rodrigo Duterte’s oft-repeated declaration that he would yank ABS-CBN off the air.
Villegas said the House panel’s decision has deprived the public a source of information in this time of a pandemic aside from adding to the country’s unemployment woes.
He added that it also virtually killed the right to freedom of expression.
“Another channel of free expression is killed as if we have not killed enough of our countrymen,” he said.
Villegas said there will be a day of reckoning for the hurt done to the poor and needy.
“Whatever we do to the poor and to the needy, we do to Christ. And there will be a day of judgment for our crimes against the poor and the needy,” he said.
Villegas said Christians will need to stay awake and vigilant by offering their prayers.
“Nasa Diyos ang awa nasa tao ang gawa. Kailan pa tayo kikilos upang isagawa ang ipinagdarasal? Hindi natututulog ang Diyos. Hindi rin dapat matulog ang pagiging Kristiyano sa anumang panahon at sa lahat ng pagkakataon,” he said.
(H3) ‘There’s always a day of judgement’
Meanwhile, Manila Cathedral Rector Fr. Reginald R. Malicdem expressed the faithfuls’ solidarity and sadness for those affected by the House panel’s decision.
“Do not be afraid. Naipasara kayo noon at bumalik kayong muli. Do not be afraid especially to those your rank and file employees who might lose their jobs, because Jesus said, ‘If God takes care of the sparrows in the sky, do not be afraid because you are worth more than many sparrows. Ang Diyos ang bahala… put the love of Jesus first and he will restore you, put the love of Jesus and he will be your strength,” Malicdem said in his homily on Saturday.
He also has a message to the members of the House.
“To our leaders in government especially to our representatives in Congress, we have nothing to say to you but the very words also of Jesus in our Gospel today. Jesus said, ‘Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed. Nothing that is kept secret that will not be made known.’ Jesus reminds us there is always a day of reckoning, there’s always a day of judgement.”/Stacy Ang
