MANILA, Philippines — Congress should stop sitting on bills seeking to renew media giant ABS-CBN’s franchise and put it back on air, the Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
“Congress should stop ducking responsibility and reverse [President Rodrigo] Duterte’s latest attempt to muzzle the press, especially when the public needs timely and accurate information more than ever,” Human Rights Watch deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said in a statement.
The international rights group also slammed the House of Representatives for its “inaction” on the network’s franchise renewal , leading to its shutdown.
ABS-CBN went off the air Tuesday night in compliance with the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) order to stop its broadcast operations after its legislative franchise expired on May 4.
Lawmakers earlier urged the NTC to grant the network a provisional authority to operate while its franchise renewal is pending in Congress.
NTC officials assured that ABS-CBN would be granted a provisional permit.
“The Duterte administration is using a back-door method against ABS-CBN as the president’s latest way to suppress freedom of the press,” Robertson said.
“Those concerned about public health messaging and the COVID-19 crisis in the Philippines should call on legislators to right this wrong, get ABS-CBN back on the air, and protect media freedom throughout the country,” he added.
The President had repeatedly vowed to block the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise, citing the network’s failure to air his ads during his presidential campaign in 2016.
ABS-CBN apologized to the President to which Duterte accepted. He also said he will leave the network’s franchise renewal to Congress.
Malacañang on Wednesday said the President is “completely neutral” and that lawmakers should vote on ABS-CBN’s fate according to their conscience.