MANILA, Philippines — Bishop Broderick Pabillo, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila, on Wednesday urged the public to defend press freedom as he described the shutdown of broadcasting giant ABS-CBN as a move closer to martial law.
“We the citizens know what is the motive of this action. We are not defending ABS-CBN. We are defending press freedom. We are defending freedom because the grip of power is getting tighter around us,” Pabillo said in a Facebook post.
“Nasasakal na kami (We are already being strangled)! The specter of Martial Law is coming up! This action of the government is not uniting the people. In fact, it is using the pandemic as a cover for its dastardly deed,” he added, referencing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
This comes as the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) handed down a cease and desist order against ABS-CBN after its legislative franchise expired on Monday, May 4.
After the order was issued, ABS-CBN complied, with all of its television and radio stations going off the air.
Under Republic Act No. 3846 or the Radio Control Law, “no person, firm, company, association, or corporation shall construct, install, establish, or operate a radio transmitting station, or radio receiving station used for commercial purposes, or a radio broadcasting station, without having first obtained a franchise therefor from the Congress of the Philippines.”
But eleven bills on the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN remain pending before the House committee on legislative franchises.
Pabillo then called the NTC order “very unbecoming at best and traitorous to the people at worst,” and that the case of ABS-CBN was “politically-motivated, no matter what justification forwarded by the government.”
“No institution is free of any shortcoming, legally speaking. If people are looking for faults, they can always be found in this highly complicated world. But are the faults of ABS-CBN such that it would merit its shutting down?” the bishop said.
“Besides, it is itself the fault of Congress is not acting fast enough on the application for the renewal of its franchise,” he added.
“They have been reminded of this matter for a long time but they dilly-dally, using its power to give a franchise as a bait to tame the network.”
Pabillo further said that the NTC should not close the network based on technicalities, adding that it was also within its mandate to let ABS-CBN operate based advice of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
On March 10, NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba told House members that it will let ABS-CBN operate even if its franchise renewal bid remains pending in Congress.
“But is NTC acting on behalf of promoting communication, or is it just a tool of the administration to further its agenda?” Pabillo then questioned. “Will NTC add 11,000 workers to the swelling unemployment that the country is now experiencing?”
“This action of the NTC – and this present administration as a whole – does not have the good of the Filipinos at heart,” he added.
“It is a brazen exercise of power to show who is in charge, using the law and its technicalities as a tool of control,” he said, adding that doing so means that freedom of information in the Philippines is threatened.
“It sends the chilling message that news and information outlets should kowtow to those in power or else they will be brought down, just as ABC-CBN. But we do not allow this to happen,” the bishop assured.