Kapamilya artist and Magandang Buhay host Karla Estrada vented her frustrations on her Instagram account over the ABS-CBN shutdown.
This is after the media network decided to sign-off following the National Telecommunications Commission’s cease and desist order against it.
On the image-sharing platform, the 45-year-old mother of Daniel Padilla lashed out at NTC for their “untimely” decision of terminating ABS-CBN’s broadcast operations as thousands of employees will be affected.
With their jobs gone, many will suffer and become hungry as they have no source of income that they can use to buy the food and other things that they need to survive during this time of the pandemic.
In a now-deleted post he said, “ANG MANANAHIMIK AY LALONG MAABUSO. Kaya Hindi kami matitikom sa kabalbalan na ginawa ninyo .
“Ngayon pa talaga???? Ngayon pa talaga??? Sigurado kayo Ngayon nyo ginawa ito??? Wow! Wala kayong kasing Lupit!Sa NAPAKARAMING NAMAMATAY ARAW ARAW ng dahil sa CORONA VIRUS,And not to mention na isa ang bansa natin sa Asia na May pinakamaraming Kaso ng Covid 19, Ngayon nyo pa na isip gawin ito? Makakatulong ba ito sa pag sugpo natin Sa CORONA VIRUS , NTC??? What got into you guys???
“We are suppose to be UNITED this time! kailangan natin Ngayon ang kalinga at tulong. Dapat Lamang ang mabubuti Ngayon! Pero parang nilagyan nyo ng dibisyon ang inyong damdamin para sa Libo libong manggagawa na MAWAWALAN ng trabaho. Dinagdagan nyo pa ang mga magdurusa! Sana makatulong kayo Ngayon sa mga dagdag na MGA MAGUGUTOM!!
“NAKAKAKILABOT ANG BALIK NITO SA INYO! BAHALA NA ANG DIYOS SA ATING LAHAT.”
On Twitter, Estrada wrote: “Nakakakilabot… nag bubunyi ang mga kinain na ng INGGIT. Sa gitna ng crisis dulot ng covid19 ay lalong nalugmok ang mga tao.. saan na nga ba tayo patungo PILIPINAS? PAG-ASA magparamdam ka.”
The tragic fate of ABS-CBN’s franchise
Long before the old franchise of ABS-CBN Network was set to expire on March 30 (later corrected to May 4), the network had been the target of President Rodrigo Duterte’s ire for supposedly sabotaging his campaign during the Presidential Election in 2016 by not airing his political advertisements. The network instead ran a negative advertisement against him paid for by a political adversary.
In a Senate hearing in February, ABS-CBN’s president and chief executive, Carlo Katigbak, apologized to Duterte by saying, “We are sorry if we offended the president. That was not the intention of the network.” The apology was accepted by the president who made it clear that he has nothing to do with the network’s franchise as the decision is in the hands of the lawmakers handling their case.
In February, Solicitor General Jose Calida made a move by filing a quo warranto petition before the Supreme Court seeking to invalidate ABS-CBN’s franchise and its subsidiary, ABS-CBN Convergence, for its alleged violations in the Constitution and in its terms.
But with eleven bills seeking for its franchise renewal pending in Congress, congressional leaders stalled on the bills and instead issued a joint resolution authorizing the NTC to give ABS-CBN a temporary permit to operate while the House of Representatives debated on whether or not to renew the network’s franchise.
However, on May 5, the NTC issued a ceased and desist order against the media conglomerate one day after its Congress-granted franchise expired.
NTC issued the order after SolGen Calida warned the agency that only Congress has the power to renew broadcast franchises.
With the absence of court order, NTC’s move to halt the network’s broadcast operations is being questioned.
Several senators including Senate Leader Vicente Sotto III, Se. Grace Poe, and Sen. Richard Gordon condemned the agency’s decision to stop ABS-CBN’s operations, months after the latter assured Congress that the media giant would be given provisional authority to operate while its franchise bills are debated.
