Senator Christopher “Bong” Go said he wants to push the house of Representatives to act on the franchise of ABS-CBN immediately, as the final judgment will be coming from President Rodrigo Duterte.
Despite SolGen Jose Calida’s quo warranto petition against the giant network, Go highlighted that all bills should emanate from the House.
“Lalo natin pinapatagal, mas lalong umiinit ‘yung issue. Pagusapan niyo na, eto naman ‘yung proseso, usapan niyo then papadala dito sa Senado, then the President will decide. Hayaan natin siyang mag-desisyon kung approve or to exercise his power.”
"Kapag lalo nating pinapatagal, mas lalong umiinit ang isyu."
Hinimok ni Sen. Bong Go ang Kamara na dinggin na ang renewal ng prangkisa ng ABS-CBN. | via @robertmanodzmm pic.twitter.com/STXyppWKJd
— DZMM TeleRadyo (@DZMMTeleRadyo) February 19, 2020
ABS-CBN has been requesting another 25 years of its franchise but the lower chamber has yet to prioritize the 11 filed bills for the network’s application. In line with this, Go stated that if he were voting for the ABS-CBN franchise renewal in Congress, he would vote according to his conscience.
Go said: “Just vote according to your conscience and hopefully your conscience will be with the Filipino people, in the interest of the Filipino people. If voting is done in Congress, I would vote according to conscience.”
He also said that the President may have been vocal about his sentiments towards ABS-CBN, but Duterte has no direct order to block the network from obtaining its franchise renewal. Go claims that Duterte will always tell him to vote according to conscience.
On the contrary, Senator Go emphasized that if the bills seeking for ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal will not be approved by Congress, there is no assurance that President will release the license or veto it.
He continued: “I can’t speak in behalf of the President. It will be his decision. It’s either we approve or we deny. Bakit December 31 of 2022? Meron bang politika dito?”
ABS-CBN Franchise Renewal Update:
After being accused as a tax evader, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has clarified that ABS-CBN has no outstanding tax liability with the tax agency.
Even when BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa clarified that the giant network has no outstanding taxes, OWWA Deputy Administration Mocha Uson continued attacking ABS-CBN.
https://twitter.com/MochaUson/status/1229641717462134784
