Pimentel tells House: Don’t sleep on ABS-CBN franchise

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III pressed the House of Representatives on Tuesday to act and not “sleep” on a bill seeking to renew the franchise of ABS- CBN for another 25 years.

“To be fair, dapat aksyunan. Aksyunan, pass or fail para at least merong concerned people will know what to do—move for reconsideration or gather more votes , override something, mga ganun,” Pimentel told reporters at the Senate.

(To be fair, this should be acted upon. Act on it, pass or fail so concerned people will know what to do—move for reconsideration or gather more votes, override something — actions like that.)

“Dapat lang po aksyunan, huwag ‘yung patulugin lang na as if walang pending [bill],” he said.

(This should be acted upon, don’t just sleep on it as if there’s no pending bill.)

ABS-CBN’s franchise will expire on March 30 but until now, the House has yet to tackle the pending bills seeking to renew it for another 25 years.

Once approved by the House, the bill will then be transmitted to the Senate for consideration.

But even before the House could act on the bill, Solicitor General Jose Calida has asked the Supreme Court to revoke the franchise allegedly for violating its own terms and the Constitution.

READ: SolGen asks SC to scrap franchise of ABS-CBN

While he believes that Solicitor General did not encroach on Congress’ authority, Pimentel still believes that bringing the issue to court was futile since the franchise is set to expire anyway.

“Kaya dapat nga in fairness kilusan para makita natin it will rise or fall on the merits of the… kung may reklamo ilabas ang reklamo para marinig…” the senator said, noting the 11,000 workers who might lose their jobs if the franchise is not renewed or extended.

(That’s why in fairness, this should be acted upon so we can see if it will rise or fall on the merits of the… if there are complaints, bring it on so we can hear it.)

Pimentel also stressed that Congress may only cancel a franchise if the franchisee commits a grave violation of the terms of the franchise.

“Hindi ‘yung nakakita ka lang ng isang pagkakamali. E ‘di dapat ganun,” he added.

(It shouldn’t be that you just saw one mistake. It shouldn’t be that way.)

The senator though acknowledged that compelling the House to act on the franchise bill is a “political issue.”

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said that Congress could not be held accountable should it fail to act on the matter.

“No, you can’t hold them accountable because they are not required to act on this recommendation. This is an exercise of a political judgment and therefore the members of Congress are answerable to the people in so far as this is concerned,” Drilon said said in a separate interview.

“You can’t even go to court and compel Congress to renew the franchise,” he added.

If their franchise is not renewed, then ABS-CBN can no longer operate after March 30, Drilon said.