Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services. PRIB Photo by Henzberg Austria/Photo taken on January 20, 2020
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate’s authority to grant legislative franchises stays in spite of the quo warranto petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General against media giant ABS-CBN, Senator Grace Poe said Monday.
“I think this is not just an issue of a franchise but this is in a broader stroke, a concern for fair and sound business practice, press freedom, and jobs for all the employees of the television network,” Poe said.
“As the Constitution mandates, the Senate’s jurisdiction over franchises remains despite the existence of the petition,” she added.
The senator, who chairs the Senate public services committee, expressed trust that the high court “will decide on the basis of fairness and for the interest of the greatest number of people.”
“We do not have a copy of the petition yet. Lest we pre-empt the Court from deciding the case on its own merit, these issues are questions of facts, which must be resolved by the Court,” Poe pointed out.
“In any case, every franchise undergoes a public hearing and I intend to tackle these issues in a fair and a deliberative manner,” she also said.
In a separate interview with dzMM, Poe said she wants to see if the alleged “abusive practices” cited by OSG in its quo warranto petition merit the cancellation of ABS-CBN’s franchise.
“Para sa akin, hindi naman tayo lahat santo. Wala namang perpektong kooperatiba o kompanya, lahat ay may pagkakamali. So siguro sa mga pagkakamali na iyon dapat madetalye kung anu-ano ang mga ‘yan, kung ano ang angkop kaparusahan,” she said.
(For me, not all of us are saints. There’s no perfect cooperative or company, everybody makes mistakes. So I think those mistakes should be detailed, what is the appropriate sanction).
“Pero ito ba ay nangangailangan ng pagkansela? Kaya nga ito ay isang bagay na akin talagang pinagaaralan at para sakin, ang pinaka-importante dito ay dapat magkaroon ng patas na pagbusisi at pandinig, sa Kongreso man o sa hudikatura,” she added.
(But does this merit a cancellation? That’s why this is something I am carefully examining and for me, the most important thing here is there must be fair scrutiny and hearing, whether in Congress or in the judiciary).
Earlier Monday, OSG filed a quo warranto petition before the Supreme Court seeking to forfeit ABS-CBN’s franchise.
Solicitor General Jose Calida told reporters that the case was filed in order to stop the supposed “abusive practices” of the network.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, meanwhile, said he does understand what Calida “wants to achieve” in filing the petition against the broadcast giant’s franchise, which he pointed out will expire on March 30, 2020.
“Hence, a quo warranto becomes moot by then if Congress does not act on extension,” Drilon said.
“If between now and March, Congress decides to hear the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN- all these issues raised by SolGen Calida in his quo warranto petition can be taken up during the hearing,” the senator added.
On the other hand, Senate President Vicente Sotto III opted not to comment on the petition filed by Calida.
“Considering the possibility of the franchise reaching the Senate, (I) would rather reserve my opinion on the matter,” Sotto told reporters in a message.