Inquirer columnist and broadcaster Solita Garduno Collás-Monsod, popularly known as “Mareng Winnie”, shared her opinion on the ABS-CBN franchise renewal.
In her article on Inquirer.net, Monsod said several government agencies have been pandering to President Rodrigo Duterte as she thanked Armed Forces of the Philippines so far stayed out of the game.
“That it was not is obviously because of the tremendous amount of pandering to President Duterte that has been going on by the legislature, the courts, and the executive—the Solicitor General’s office, the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police. Thank heavens that the Armed Forces of the Philippines has so far stayed out of the game.”
She also said that the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) has become a victim as she called “pandering mania”.
“The legislature didn’t act on the ABS-CBN franchise renewal request, even as it gave approval to similar requests. But to be fair to the legislature, it had been assured by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that it would allow ABS-CBN to continue operating in the meantime.
“Unfortunately, the NTC also fell victim to the pandering mania. It reneged on this assurance, egged on by the Solicitor General who has brought up a quo warranto case in the Supreme Court against ABS-CBN. After all, against all odds and all law, the Solicitor General’s quo warranto succeeded against Chief Justice Meilou Sereno, so a second victory is possible.” she added.
Monsod also said that the seventh hearing on the network franchise renewal by the Lower House was a ‘waste of time, resources and misjudged priorities’ such as questioning Eugenio (Gabby) Lopez III’s Filipino citizenship by those whom she called the Gang of Four (Elpidio Barzaga Jr., Michael Defensor, Rodante Marcoleta, and Jesus Remulla) took up three hearings.
“The Lower House has devoted at least seven hearings to the issue. What a colossal waste of time and resources and misjudged priorities. First, the Gang of Four (Elpidio Barzaga Jr., Michael Defensor, Rodante Marcoleta, and Boying Remulla) questioned the Filipino citizenship of Eugenio (Gabby) Lopez III, never mind that his parents are both Filipinos, and he has been declared a Filipino by both the Bureau of Immigration and the DOJ (previous administrations). This took up two or three hearings.”
So with the issue on Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) thrown at ABS-CBN claiming that ABS-CBN was not 100-percent Filipino because PDRs were owned by foreigners that took another two hearings. Other networks who also used PDRs but the franchise was renewed without any question made Monsod said that “the smell of bias is in the air”.
“Then they threw in the Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) issue at ABS-CBN, claiming that since PDRs were owned by foreigners, then ABS-CBN was not 100-percent Filipino. They talked about ‘piercing the veil of corporate fiction’ and ‘corporate layering.’ Unfortunately, their position was weakened not only by the fact that the PDRs were approved by the SEC, but more so that GMA-7 also had used PDRs but whose franchise was renewed without any question about PDRs. The smell of bias is in the air. Anyway, it looks like this ruse has failed as well. Another two hearings.”
Now, she noticed that the Gang of Four is trying to show that Lopezes got control of ABS-CBN after the Edsa Revolution without the proper compensation to the government.
“So now, they’re scraping the bottom of their barrel of tricks. It looks like the Gang of Four is trying for a revision of history, making it appear that the Lopezes—’oligarchy’ was thrown in there, a la Marcos—somehow got control of ABS-CBN after Edsa without the proper compensation to the Cory government.”
She thanked Rep. Edcel Lagman for pointing out that Lopezes were the aggrieved party in the transaction but then the Gang of Four completely ignored the fact that Eugenio (Geny) Lopez Jr., Gabby’s father, was thrown into jail shortly after the imposition of martial law.
“Thank heavens for Rep. Edcel Lagman, who pointed out that the Lopezes were the aggrieved party in the transaction and not the other way around. The Gang of Four has completely ignored the fact that Eugenio (Geny) Lopez Jr., Gabby’s father, was thrown into jail shortly after the imposition of martial law.
“No charges were necessary, nor any produced (does that ring a bell, with the anti-terrorism bill?). It was obvious that Geny’s incarceration was to bring his father, Don Eugenio Lopez Sr., to his knees. And it did. Marcos wanted, and got, all the Lopez businesses (media and Meralco). All supposedly to destroy the oligarchs (Marcos created new ones—his cronies). I seem to recall that Meralco was sold with a downpayment of P10,000. Channel 2 and Channel 4 were taken over by Roberto Benedicto, a Marcos crony. For the entire martial law period, the Lopezes received no compensation.”
Monsod also finds shameful that Rep. Boying Remulla tried to cut off Augusto (Jake) Almeda-Lopez for putting everyone in the right perspective about the contributions of ABS-CBN to the country as she was struck at Jake’s recollection that President Duterte had a radio program with ABS-CBN broadcasting for more than 15 years.
“Geny Lopez remained in jail for five years, until he staged his great escape from Fort Bonifacio, with the help of Augusto (Jake) Almeda-Lopez, who appeared at the last hearing in the House to put everyone in the right perspective about the contributions of ABS-CBN to the country. I think it was shameful that Rep. Boying Remulla tried to cut Jake (who is 90 years old) short, I suppose because Jake was being effective. I was struck at Jake’s recollection that President Duterte had a radio program with ABS-CBN broadcasting for 15 years.”
