The House of Representatives is set to quiz the Development Bank of the Philippines at the next hearing of the ABS-CBN franchise.
DUMPER PTDA party-list Rep. Claudine Bautista has asked the committee to include the reported written off loans of the Lopez group to DBP.
Bautista said the House would like to know if ABS-CBN and the Lopez group have “unjustly benefited from the loans condoned by the DBP to the prejudice of this government.”
“It is only reasonable and prudent on our side in Congress… to look into the legitimacy of the activities of its major stockholders and its affiliated companies because these entities are the ones in control of the company,” she said.
Last year, DDS blogger Thinking Pinoy (RJ Nieto) brought up the issue of the Lopez group’s DBP loans that were written off.
This was used by the DDS trolls and ABS-CBN critics against the media network’s renewal.
PRRD TO OPPOSE ABS-CBN'S CONGRESSIONAL FRANCHISE RENEWAL DUE TO P1.67 BILLION IN UNPAID LOANS FROM GOVERNMENT-OWNED DBP
Citing massive unpaid loans from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Pres. Rody Duterte on 06 March 2019 said he will oppo… https://t.co/3Fl1UMLFQQ pic.twitter.com/oB9cAf8xrr
— ThinkingPinoy (@ThinkingPinoyPH) March 7, 2019
However, in a statement, the Lopez Group of Companies said they have no pending or unpaid obligations to the DBP or any government financial institutions.
“All debt papers, including those sold by DBP to the SPV (special purpose vehicle) were eventually settled by the company,” the company said.
ABS-CBN has been cleared also by different government agencies with regard to the issues being thrown at them at the franchise renewal hearings.
DOJ has already settled the citizenship issue of former ABS-CBN chairman Gabby Lopez, the SEC has also said that the PDRs sold by the ABS-CBN holdings which is a stockholder of the ABS-CBN corporation are legit and legal.
BIR also said that the network has no tax issues with the agency and that they are religiously paying their taxes every year.
