Congress must OK ABS-CBN franchise and let Duterte have final say – solon

MANILA, Philippines — The only way to know whether or not President Rodrigo Duterte is in favor of the franchise renewal of broadcast giant ABS-CBN is for Congress to approve and transmit it for his signature, a lawmaker said Thursday.

“It is stated that the President will now follow the dictates of what is the decision of the Congress. So let us bring it to him and let him decide. That is the only way that we can know whether the President is in favor or not,” Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said on ABS-CBN News Channel.

“I believe that the President will act according to what his spokesman said that he is neutral on this, and if the Congress would pass a resolution like that he will sign it,” he also said.

Rufus added that it is not just the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that should be blamed for the shutdown of ABS-CBN after it issued a cease-and-desist order to the network on Tuesday, a day after the 25-year franchise of the media giant expired.

He said he “partly blames” the House of Representatives for the woes now being faced by the network since the Chamber has the duty to grant or refuse franchises under the Constitution.

“This (delay in deliberating bills) caused the entire thing. If Congress had just been able to deliberate and approve this, either in favor or against the bills, there should be no problem right now that we are facing,” he explained.

“The buck stops with Congress, not with the executive, not with the judiciary,” he added.

On Wednesday, Rodriguez filed a new joint congressional resolution granting provisional franchise to the network effective until June 30, 2022, while lawmakers deliberate on the fate of the network’s franchise.

He appealed to the Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and to the House Committee on Legislative Franchises to hear the resolution.

The NTC ordered ABS-CBN to “cease and desist” from broadcasting on television and radio, a day after its operating franchise expired. The network stopped its broadcast operations Tuesday night in compliance with the order.

Duterte has repeatedly threatened to block the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, saying the network did not provide him the airtime he had paid for during the May 2016 presidential elections campaign period.

Despite this, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte remains “neutral” on the issue, and also urged members of Congress to vote on the franchise renewal “as conscience dictates.”

GSG