The Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives has asked the House Committee on Legislative Franchises to submit the technical working group report and the committee report on the denial of the ABS-CBN franchise application to the plenary for ratification.
In a letter addressed to Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez, chair of the House franchise committee, the Makabayan congressmen appealed to the committee to have the matter discussed in plenary session to allow every legislator to give inputs on whether or not the franchise committee did the right move to reject the network’s application for franchise renewal.
The Makabayan Bloc is composed of Reps. Carlos Zarate, Ferdinand Gaite, and Eufemia Cullamat of Bayan Muna; France Castro of ACT Teachers, Arlene Brosas of Gabriela Women’s and Sarah Elago of Kabataan.
Alvarez, for his part, has yet to respond to comments from reporters regarding the letter of the Makabayan Bloc. Alvarez’s committee deliberated on the ABS-CBN franchise renewal bills with the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chaired by Bulacan Rep. Jonathan Sy-Alvarado.
The Makabayan lawmakers have co-authored House Bill 6052 that seeks to grant another 25-year franchise to ABS-CBN. They were also signatories to House Resolution 639 calling on the franchise panel to report without further delay for plenary action on the bills granting a franchise to the network.
“In this regard, may we, therefore, respectfully move and pray for the Committee on Legislative Franchise to submit the said Committee TWG report and the adopted Committee Resolution to the plenary for ratification of its decision,” they said in their letter.
The lawmakers expressed belief the committee’s majority decision to deny ABS-CBN’s franchise application –”despite the absence of compelling reasons as affirmed by resource persons” in the marathon hearings — has to go through an approval by the entire chamber.
“Undeniably, majority of the 305 members of the House of Representatives are being deprived of the opportunity to deliberate and even vote on the said issue, in representation of their constituents who were badly affected by the Committee decision,” the Makabayan Bloc said in the letter. And while Section 49 of the House Rules provides that a bill unfavorably acted “shall be laid on the table,” it does not say that the bill is “killed.”
“While some members of the Committee may interpret the laying on the table as ‘killing’ a bill or a resolution and therefore nothing needs to be done, the Rules do not provide so,” the lawmakers said.
“The Committee on Legislative Franchises may no longer tackle the franchise bills because they have been laid on the table precisely because it is now up to the Plenary to decide on the bills,” they added.
The Makabayan Bloc also said the committee report contains recommendations that need approval by the entire chamber. These include the issue such as the practice of issuing Philippine Depositary Receipts for industries required to be wholly-owned and managed by Filipinos, and on the current system of giving tax and fiscal incentives to avoid tax avoidance measures.
“Surely, the entire House cannot be ordered by a mere Committee to investigate…. We, thus submit, that the TWG report and the Committee Resolution, which now stands as the Committee Report, requires the approval of the House before it can be implemented,” they said.
Also, the lawmakers raised a recent Social Weather Stations survey which revealed that majority of Filipinos are in favor the ABS-CBN franchise renewal.