In an article published by News 5, House Legislative Franchises Committee Chairman Franz “Chikoy” Alvarez has stated that there are still other legislative proposals and issues they have to prioritize aside from ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal.
On the contrary, Bayan Muna Congressman Carlos Zarate of Makabayan bloc urged the House Leadership to keep its promise on being fair by taking action and discuss the bills pertaining to the ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal.
Carlos said: “Nakita naman natin kahapon na napakabilis na ipinasa ang mga prangkisa, application for franchise and renewal.”
Moreover, Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez also advised that if the House leadership will not be able to grant the giant network the franchise renewal it deserves, it can still be liable to receive a provisional franchise.
“There can be a provisional authority that can be authorized by Congress to the National Telecommunications Commission, which has jurisdiction over broadcast media.”
This is the same statement of Senator Grace Poe where she emphasized that the Congress has to approve the giant network’s franchise renewal and be given the chance to present their plans if ever the Congress will provide them the privilege to continue airing.
Furthermore, Poe suggested that ABS-CBN can get a probationary permit to operate from NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordova. The only question is, will Cordova allow ABS-CBN to have a temporary permit?
In addition to that, founding Chairman of Francisco Center for Social Change Foundation Butch Francisco insisted that ABS-CBN will continue to operate with or without franchise renewal.
Francisco reiterated that if the giant network’s franchise renewal continues to get stalled, there are other means they can use to continue operating such as cable, Facebook, and The Filipino Channel abroad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1CLMCa_6t4
“In case, the ABS-CBN franchise doesn’t get renewed, all that the network is losing is just its frequency. Its regular viewers will not see It’s Showtime and FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano anymore on Channel 2. They can still watch their favorite Kapamilya shows in other ABS-CBN platforms- like cable, I Want and The Filipino Channel abroad and lest we forget- there’s always Facebook.”
