ABS-CBN dominates trending Twitter topics amid franchise hearing

MANILA, Philippines— Media giant ABS-CBN dominated top trending Twitter topics in the Philippines as the Senate looked into the possible franchise renewal of the network on Monday.

#ABSCBNFranchise topped the Twitter trending topics, while #NoToABSCBNShutdown was trending at the fourth spot.

“ABS-CBN” and its president “Carlo Katigbak” also became trending topics after the latter and several other executives attended the Senate hearing.

During the probe, Katigbak apologized to President Rodrigo Duterte over a negative political ad against him aired in 2016.

He also admitted the network failed to air P7-million worth of ads, but was able to refund about P4 million to the President. There was a delay in refunding the remaining P2.6 million and was “no longer accepted by the President.”

During the hearing, ABS-CBN was also cleared by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) of allegations that the network was unable to pay its taxes.