The House of Representatives on Monday reverted the bill granting ABS-CBN a provisional franchise until Oct. 31, 2020 to the plenary to allow thorough debates before it is approved.
At the plenary session, the chamber approved the motion of Deputy Majority Leader Wilter Wee Palma seeking to reconsider the second reading approval of House Bill 6732 to allow several congressmen to ask questions on the issue.
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"Let me make this of record that at any time, the House can approve this bill on third reading, but because of the insistence of our colleagues to interpellate further on the matter, I move that we reconsider approval on second reading of House Bill 6732," Palma said.
House Bill 6732, drafted by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and several House leaders, was filed and referred to the committee on rules Wednesday, and was consecutively approved at the committee level and on second reading on the same day by constituting the chamber as a committee of the whole.
Bills on franchise should have been referred to the House committee on legislative franchises for deliberations.
A staunch supporter of the ABS-CBN franchise renewal bill, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, lauded the House leadership's action.
"I laud Speaker Cayetano and the House leadership for seeing the light on the need to reconsider the approval on second reading of HB 6732 granting a provisional franchise to ABS-CBN on the same day it was passed on first reading," Lagman said, noting that the Constitution requires three readings on separate days for a bill to become a law, unless it is certified urgent by the President.
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Cagayan De Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez also questioned the speedy approval of the bill for the same reason, saying it could be challenged in view of the constitutional requirement for three separate hearings.
Lagman said the House must schedule committee hearings on several proposals calling for the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise to operate.
"I hope Cayetano and the other House leaders will also see the light of expediting the consideration of the numerous bills proposing a 25-year renewal of the network’s franchise before the proposed brief interim franchise expires," he said.
Meanwhile, ABS-CBN Corp. on Monday prodded the Supreme Court to immediately grant its plea for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction stopping the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) from implementing its cease-and-desist order requiring the media giant to cease operations after the expiry of its franchise on May 5.
In seeking he immediate issuance of a TRO, ABS-CBN argued that it will take some time even if members of the Senate have expressed willingness to act immediately on the measure of the House of Representatives to issue a provisional authority to operate until Oct. 31.
The broadcast giant expressed fears that it might not be able to resume radio and television operations as the provisional authority is still subject to the approval of the Office of the President.
“This may take some weeks if not months,” the petitioner said.
“In the meantime, ABS-CBN, its employees, various stakeholders, and the general public will continue to suffer grave and irreparable injury as a result of the cease and desist order issued by the NTC,” it said.
Also, the broadcast giant asserted there is no basis for the NTC to “hastily recall” the frequencies assigned to ABS-CBN Corporation as it would turn out to be useless and costly, it told the regulatory body last Friday.
"Recent developments in Congress…strongly indicate that ABS-CBN will soon be granted a new legislative franchise and will be able to resume operations," ABS-CBN said in its Verified Answer and Compliance.
Instead, ABS-CBN asked the NTC to suspend its proceedings pending the resolution of the network's petition before the Supreme Court.
The NTC, on May 5, gave the network 10 days to explain why the frequencies assigned to it should not be recalled as it ordered the ABS-CBN, DZMM and all its stations nationwide to immediately cease its broadcasts.
The network complied with the cease and desist order. The order covered 23 AM and FM radio stations, 42 TV stations and 10 DTTB stations across the country.
The broadcast company reiterated that the order endangers the livelihood of its 11,000 employees and their families and the CDO has significantly reduced the income of the company as well as its affiliates.
ABS-CBN said the shutdown also resulted in reduced tax revenues for the government, noting that it paid up to P70.5 billion in taxes between 2003 and 2020.
ABS-CBN also said the order deprives the public of a leading source of news and entertainment, impairing their right to information.
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