MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies in Congress are responsible for the shutdown of ABS-CBN, Senator Leila de Lima said Thursday, even warning against “false heroes” in government “who act as if they are sympathetic” to the country’s broadcast giant.
“Ang administrasyong Duterte lamang ang magpapasara ng isang kumpanyang malaking katuwang natin sa gitna ng isang malubhang pandemic at magtatanggal ng libu-libong trabaho. Paulit-ulit din na sinasabi ni Duterte na wala na tayong pera pero pinasara nila ang isa sa pinakamalaking taxpayer sa ating bayan. Samantala, muli nilang binuksan ang mga POGO [Philippine Offshore gaming Operator] na hindi nagbibigay ng trabaho sa mga Filipino at hindi nagbabayad ng buwis,” she said in a dispatch from Camp Crame in Quezon City.
(Only the administration of Duterte will allow such closure of a company who has been a big help in the midst of a serious pandemic and eliminate thousands of jobs. Duterte has also repeatedly said that we no longer have funds but they closed down one of the country’s biggest taxpayers. Meanwhile, they allowed the reopening of POGO, which does not give jobs to Filipinos and does not pay tax.)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in February said that ABS-CBN has no outstanding tax liability and has paid a total of P14.3 billion in taxes from 2016 to 2019. The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), meanwhile, recently allowed the partial resumption of “tax-compliant” POGOs, which employs mostly Chinese citizens.
“Malacañang is making it appear that all is well between Mr. Duterte and ABS-CBN after he supposedly accepted their apology. But his attempts to wash his hands off this issue is betrayed by the fact that his minions in Congress refuse to hear the bills on the franchise extension,” De Lima stressed.
Prior to his acceptance of ABS-CBN’s apology, Duterte had repeatedly vowed to block the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise over the network’s alleged failure to air his presidential campaign ads in 2016.
“It does not escape our notice how other franchises were renewed with almost perfunctory action from Congress while that of ABS-CBN is consciously passed over,” she added.
The senator also said that she finds it funny listening to congressmen who “pretend to be mad” at the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which issued the cease and desist order against ABS-CBN, when they should also be blamed for the closure of the media network.
Several congressmen have been blaming House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano for his apparent inaction on the proposal to renew the franchise of the media network, with Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza even issuing a public apology and admitting that “this is the fault of Congress,” particularly Cayetano’s.
“They passed the blame to NTC when they could have worked on the franchise renewal as early as the previous Congress,” De Lima said. “Let us all beware of false heroes: those who act as if they are sympathetic or they are here to save the day in spite of the fact that they and their allies caused the problem in the first place.”
The detained opposition legislator then slammed NTC for issuing the shutdown order against ABS-CBN.
“NTC did not do our country any favor by toying with the livelihood of thousands of ABS-CBN employees in the midst of the worst economic recession in recent history. They could have tempered the destructive power of the law after the DOJ (Department of Justice), Senate, and the House of Representatives expressed their view that there is sufficient basis for the issuance of provisional authority,” De Lima said.
NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba in March told members of the House that they will follow the advice of DOJ to allow ABS-CBN to operate while its franchise renewal bid is pending in Congress, while Cayetano and Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez previously sent a letter enjoining NTC to grant ABS-CBN provisional authority so it could continue its operations while its franchise renewal application remains pending in the House of Representatives.
‘All is not lost for ABS-CBN’
The senator, however, noted that there are still legal remedies for ABS-CBN. De Lima, a lawyer by profession, said this is “another test for our courts.” She also said she would not want the “political persecution” committed against her to happen to anyone else.
“It breaks my heart to see that the very same tyranny that caused the gross injustice against me finds another victim and further erodes the democracy that we have worked so hard to build. The ABS-CBN forced shutdown is another abominable illustration of the weaponization of the rule of law to serve personal ends of vendetta and power-tripping,” she said.
De Lima pointed out that if Congress really wants to help ABS-CBN, they should urgently tackle its pending franchise renewal bill to put the network back on the air.