Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Thursday the 18th Congress will decide on the fate of the bill renewing the franchise of ABS-CBN Corp., the former ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.
“The [17th] Congress is finished, our sessions are over,” Arroyo said at the sidelines of the unveiling of a sculpture at the Rotunda Garden of the House of Representatives.
House Bill 4349, which was filed by Nueva Ecija Rep. Micaela Violago in the 17th Congress, did not prosper as the the House’s committee on legislative franchises, led by Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez, failed to act on the measure.
Violago had earlier said not even a single hearing was conducted on the bill she had filed.
“Maybe ABS CBN has yet to submit all the papers needed,” she said.
Her bill aims to renew ABS-CBN’s right to operate TV and radio broadcasting stations in the Philippines through microwave, satellite or whatever means, said Violago, a member of the House’s legislative franchises committee.
A similar bill was filed in the 16th Congress by Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao.
“It is hoped that it will see passage in the 17th Congress,” said Violago, vice chairman of the House committee on tourism.
Republic Act 7966 was an act granting ABS-CBN a franchise to construct, install, establish, operate and maintain broadcasting in the Philippines for 25 years.
“In acknowledgement of ABS-CBN’s accomplishments and the capital requirements of its operations, the immediate renewal of its original franchise which expires on March 30, 2020, is recommended to ensure the uninterrupted and improved delivery of its services to the Filipino people,” Violago says in her bill.
Earlier, Alvarez said his panel did not have enough time to deliberate on the bill.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who has accused ABS-CBN of swindling him, first opposed its franchise renewal on April 27, 2017, which came days after he signed a law renewing rival GMA Network Inc.’s franchise.
Duterte has also said he was personally against the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise.
He claims ABS-CBN failed to air his political advertisements during the election campaign in 2016, even though those had already been paid for.
He said the Lopez family, the owners of the broadcast network, had been sending emissaries to his office to negotiate, but he refused to talk to them.
