MANILA, Philippines — The members of the House committee on legislative franchises on Friday handed their decision on the fate of ABS-CBN: The network’s bid for a 25-year franchise was rejected.
Seventy affirmative votes were more than enough to adopt the panel’s technical working group’s (TWG) report recommending the denial of ABS-CBN’s franchise application.
Only 11 lawmakers voted against the resolution while two inhibited and one chose to abstain.
The question many now ask is: what happens next?
House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, an ex officio member of the committee, earlier told INQUIRER.net that there are remedies that ABS-CBN and lawmakers who are for the franchise can resort to including the re-filing of a new bill which shall undergo the same process that the denied bills for the franchise went through.
Zarate also disclosed that there is a rule where a person who voted with the majority—in this scenario, a person who voted against the franchise renewal—can file a motion for reconsideration.
“[One remedy is] when a member file[s] for a motion for reconsideration, but not everybody can file a motion for reconsideration. Only a member who voted with the majority can vote for a motion for reconsideration,” Zarate said.
“The motion for reconsideration will be heard on the same meeting if it’s raised in the same meeting or if it is raised on the same day on writing, it should be calendared by the committee for a hearing,” the lawmaker added.
But for now, ABS-CBN’s franchise bid faces a dead end in the House of Representatives. [ac]