In the joint hearing of the House committee on legislative franchises and the committee on good government and public accountability, former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile stated that ABS-CBN ownership still remained with the Lopez family despite sequestration order in the past.
During the administration of former President Ferdinand Marcos, Enrile executed the sequestration order on all television and radio stations in the country in the midst of martial law declaration.
Enrile said the title of ABS-CBN remained with its owners and was not transferred to the government.
“The facilities of the entire ABS-CBN complex, broadcast complex, were placed under the control of the government. The title of all of these facilities was never transferred to the government. They remained with the owners,” Enrile said.
“Hindi tama yung sinabi ni Jake Almeda-Lopez na inagaw ni Presidente Marcos yung ABS-CBN. It was part of the national policy to immobilize and control the communication system and the outlets for information in the entire nation and that is what we did,” the former senator added.
He countered the claims of Almeda-Lopez who earlier said that ABS-CBN was not returned to them in 1986 until they get it back themselves.
“Hindi sinauli sa amin ang ABS-CBN. Kinuha namin, binalik namin sa sarili namin,” said Almeda-Lopez in the same hearing.
Enrile explained that the sequestration order was issued during the Marcos regime “in order to control the situation so that there will be no reaction or opposition to the declaration of martial law.”
Enrile said ABS-CBN was reopened to be used by the government to “broadcast information for the country.”
“In 1986, to be exact it was February 26, I, as Secretary of National Defense and sequestrator of ABS-CBN and all the other television, radio and communication facilities in the country, issued an order to lift the sequestration of ABS-CBN,” Enrile said.
“That was the last time I had any contact or involvement with ABS-CBN,” he added.
Solons agreed that the company’s transition of ownership to the Lopez family after the dictatorship of former president Ferdinand Marcos did not raise any legal question.
“I don’t think there was any issue on the constitutionality of the return,” said Rep. Michael Defensor, vice chairman of the good government committee.
Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga questioned why ABS-CBN did not pay “a single centavo” to the Corazon Aquino administration when it was returned to the Lopez family.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate responded that the Lopezes were entitled to getting the company back after Marcos’s declaration of martial law shut down media companies in 1972.
“Mahirap naman na ikaw na nga ang ninakawan, ikaw pa rin ang pagbabayarin pag naibalik sayo yung ninakaw sayo. Hindi siguro nararapat yan at walang hustisya dun,” Zarate said.
