Cayetano not blameless on ABS-CBN shutdown — Lagman

MANILA, Philippines — There’s no way that Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano could clear himself of the blame on the shutdown of ABS-CBN amid the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) cease and desist order, an opposition solon said Friday.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman made the remark after Cayetano broke his silence and slammed the “sudden flip-flopping” of the NTC and the “unconstitutional meddling” by Solicitor General Jose Calida on the regulatory body’s grant of provisional authority to operate to ABS-CBN, pending the approval of its franchise by congress.

In his first statement since the shutdown, Cayetano said that Congress “has no choice but to once again rise to the occasion and fix the mess others make.”

But Lagman was quick to call out the House leader, saying it was his inaction on the pending franchise renewal bills that had created the mess.

“It is utterly pretentious for Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to say that the passage of the franchise renewal will now be prioritized in order to ‘fix the mess’ which others made… Cayetano must not wash his hands and absolve himself of blame at the expense of others,” said Lagman in a statement.

“Cayetano himself made the mess by blindly kowtowing to President Rodrigo Duterte’s repeated personal opposition to the renewal which unduly stalled the approval of the extension,” he added.

Lagman has been vocal with his stand that House should take the blame for ABS-CBN’s shutdown.

At one point, Lagman even said the NTC should not be used as a “scapegoat” for the failure of the House leadership to renew ABS-CBN’s franchise.

“Moreover, Cayetano cited his own personal grievances against ABS-CBN to justify his temporizing on the consideration of the 12 pending bills (including for ABS-CBN Convergence Inc.) for renewal,” Lagman said.

“Cayetano must not wash his hands and absolve himself of blame at the expense of others. Admitting one’s fault is an earmark of true leadership,” the lawmaker added.

Despite this, Lagman said that the leadership of the lower chamber can still redeem itself by fast-tracking the approval of ABS-CBN’s franchise.

“The leadership of the House of Representatives can redeem itself of its culpability in the ABS-CBN franchise fiasco by immediately fast-tracking the renewal of the giant network’s franchise,” Lagman said.

ABS-CBN has asked the Supreme Court to temporarily stop the implementation of the cease and desist order issued by the NTC which directed the network to stop its broadcast operations.

But if Congress will immediately approve ABS-CBN’s bid for a franchise renewal, this petition will just be moot, said Lagman.

“A swift congressional action extending ABS-CBN’s franchise for another 25 years will render moot and academic the network’s petition before the Supreme Court to revoke the cease and desist order (CDO) issued by the National Telecommunications Commission on May 5, 2020, which ABS-CBN complied with on the same day,” Lagman said.

“The renewal of the franchise will also foreclose the need for the High Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against NTC’s CDO so that the network can resume operations even as such franchise renewal will quash the controversial CDO,” he added.

EDV