House panel TWG recommends rejection of ABS-CBN’s franchise

MANILA, Philippines — Media giant ABS-CBN should not be granted a 25-year franchise, a technical working group recommended to the House Committee on Legislative Franchises on Friday.

“The TWG determined that the likely consensus among Members of this Committee was to disapprove the application of ABS-CBN for another franchise,” Deputy Speaker Pablo John Garcia, one of the members of the TWG, said.

“Today, this committee will test whether the TWG’s determination of the consensus is correct when it votes on this TWG report and its accompanying resolution,” the lawmaker added.

The members and ex-officio members of the committee will vote on the said resolution.

The committee secretariat declared a quorum with 46 regular members and 39 ex-officio members of the committee present. [ac]