Awakening

"Let’s wait for the next episode of the ABS-CBN saga."

The filing of the quo warranto case by the solicitor-general, now widely seen as a tactical move by the Palace to thwart the pending franchise renewal of media giant ABS CBN, has inadvertently—but wonderfully—ignited a flame of awakening that is now spreading as a political wildfire hitting the nerves of millions of Filipinos.

This is the latest—which I think will not be the last—of a series of populist flavored attacks on some of the country’s biggest enterprises now becoming a predictable messaging style. This is dangerously provoking more divisiveness and vindictiveness between what the President has claimed to be his massive “masa” followers and the so called “oligarchs,” quite unfairly caricatured as oppressive elites.

Senator Grace Poe moved commendably in calling for a Senate hearing last Monday to seek clarity on what was becoming a thickening fog of propaganda noise in mainstream and online media platforms. The hearings unambiguously revealed that ABS CBN was not remiss in its tax obligations, did not violate the terms of its franchise. There wasn’t anything wrong with its corporate structure.

Solicitor-General Jose Calida’s quo warranto case accused ABS CBN of violating its legislative franchise when it sold Philippine Depositary Receipts shares to foreign investors and when it started operating a pay-per-view channel through free-to-signal signals.

The concerned government agencies —Securities and Exchange Commission, Bureau of Internal Revenue and National Telecommunications Commission – unanimously testified that ABS-CBN had committed no violation whatsoever, thereby demolishing the primary issues of the quo warranto case.

Calida’s career progression leading to his appointment as the top lawyer of the Duterte administration has its expected share of intrigues. There was this investigation that exposed his business interests in the Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency and its contracts to supply guards to the National Parks Development Committee, National Electrification Administration, the House of Representatives, National Anti-Poverty Commission, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, and the Department of Justice with total value of above P350 million since he assumed office as Solicitor General. This is a clear conflict of interest and an embarrassing affront to President Duterte’s fiery declarations to fight corruption no matter who is involved. Of course, he insisted that he properly divested before he was appointed, and the President, well, reaffirmed his confidence with him.

Next was the quo warranto case he filed against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno where he argued that she did not have the qualifications to be appointed. The wide perception then, similar to what’s happening now, is Calida was following the marching orders of Malacañang to quickly oust Sereno, an appointee of the preceding administration, by executing an innovative strategy that effectively flanked the constitutionally prescribed process of impeachment to unseat a sitting Supreme Court Justice. The impeachment case already filed by administration allies in the House of Representatives, a long and arduous process that starts in House of Representatives and ends with the Senate conducting an impeachment trial, was all rendered moot when Calida’s quo warranto case prospered and Sereno was ousted.

It seems like “déjà vu” that the quo warranto case against ABS CBN again steals a constitutional function of Congress. It usurps the exclusive function of the House of Representatives to renew the media network’s franchise. This is a rehashed quo warranto case that, no matter how hard the denials, points to the powerful maneuverings from the top.

I agree with sentiments of political thinkers that this is a blatant demonstration of abuse of power that disregards wide reaching consequences to our freedom of expression and economically catastrophic effects on thousands of families and parallel industries of the ABS-CBN ecosystem.

The Senate hearing effectively ventilated the issues that educated the public and established by the facts presented by resource persons from ABS-CBN, relevant government agencies, and even the administration’s Senate allies, that the whole controversy is driven not by the alleged violations expressed in the case. Rather, it is the result of the President’s “hurt feelings” from the airing of negative ads against him during the presidential campaign period. This exposes Calida’s, and his boss’, abuse of power that attempts to undermine a co-equal branch of government in obedience to a personal vendetta against ABS-CBN.

The quo warranto case, as wrong as it is, awakened what I thought was desensitized society that has been frustrated and alienated by decades of unresponsive and bad governance. The people voted for an alternative candidate with a different brand of brash and bully-like leadership that they thought may be what the country needs.

As this controversy drags on, global confidence in our already unstable regulatory environment will start hurting economic momentum to the advantage of competing economies. That means the big, job -creating, long-term investments will go to more stable and more predictable environments. Only short-term ventures with the hidden protection of those in power will come in.

The eyes of the public are now closely watching the House of Representatives led by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. The House, as of this writing, is not keen on opening hearings on the ABS-CBN franchise despite the growing clamor from members of Congress and the deluge of public sentiment from virtually all sectors of society. I’ve seen our Congressmen buckle down on urgent legislative measures until the wee hours of the morning and even call on special sessions to finish the job. It just needs the Speaker’s go signal.

To an ordinary citizen, any more moves to further delay the approval ABS CBN’s franchise creates suspicion that there are other motives and other interests in play that must be accommodated. The renewal may be the bargaining chip and will be delayed until the hidden objective is achieved.

Let’s all stay tuned in for the next episode.