MANILA, Philippines — Celebrities calling for ABS-CBN’s franchise extension should not direct their appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte.
Instead, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo on Monday said showbiz personalities should make their pleas heard by legislators in Congress since they are at the helm of granting legislative franchises to businesses.
“Mali ‘yung kanilang pinapakiusapan. Dapat makiusap sila sa Congress na i-renew ‘yung lisensya kasi si Presidente wala naman siyang pakialam doon. Pangalawa, ang hukuman naman ang magde-decide noon, hindi rin siya. Palaging outside the kulambo siya dun eh,” Panelo said in a press briefing.
(They are asking the wrong person. They should appeal to Congress about the renewal of license since the President does not care about that. Second, the court is the one that will decide on this, not the President. The President is always out of the question here.)
“But I can understand the feelings of people in ABS [CBN]. Natural lamang ‘yun (That’s only natural),” added Panelo, who also serves as chief legal counsel of Duterte.
Solicitor General Jose Calida filed a quo warranto petition before the Supreme Court to void the franchise of media network giant ABS-CBN due to “abusive practices.”
Prior to this, Duterte has repeatedly threatened ABS-CBN that he would make sure that its franchise would not be renewed.
READ: Duterte to ABS-CBN: ‘I will see to it that you are out’
But media groups and several celebrities backed ABS-CBN’s pending franchise renewal with some calling on Duterte to reconsider his stand on the issue.
On-and-off screen tandem Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil, collectively called as LizQuen, earlier called on the President about ABS-CBN’s franchise extension and aired concerns about the employees who will lose their jobs should the broadcasting company’s franchise would be allowed to expire on March 30.
Celebrities like Anne Curtis, Vice Ganda, and Lea Salonga also expressed their support to ABS-CBN by sharing an online petition by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) that calls on Congress to pass the bill renewing media network’s franchise.