Kapamilya actress Angel Locsin hit back at known DDS blog site ‘Thinking Pinoy’, a politically vocal blog that supports the Duterte administration, after it reacted to her recent open letter to the government.
In her post, she claimed that there are more important issues to be tackled aside from the controversial ABS-CBN franchise renewal, Anti-Terror bill, and Re-naming of the NAIA airport.
She listed the other important matters such as the COVID-19 pandemic, education, livelihood, and the like.
ANGEL LOCSIN'S REQUESTS
ABS-CBN actress Angel Locsin, in a recent social media post addressed "to whom it may concern", said that instead of spending time on picking on ABS-CBN, NAIA renaming, and the Anti-terror Bill, time should be spent creating plan… https://t.co/J5OocN3QYq pic.twitter.com/cOaTLKc2uQ
— ThinkingPinoy (@ThinkingPinoyPH) July 3, 2020
‘Thinking Pinoy’ in reply reiterated that the Congress was supposed to be on break but the media giant insisted the hearings continue to get its franchise renewal. But instead, it gave Congress more time to debate on alleged violations of the network.
“Congress was supposed to be on break…In reality, ABS-CBN wanted these ‘overtime hearings’ so it could have a shot at getting a franchise as soon as possible.”
The site claimed that the network itself is at fault for not being compliant with the law in the first place, further stating “If they really cared for their thousands of employees, why did they put ABS-CBN in this position?”
The site as well stated that the Anti-Terror bill is not something trivial since suffering from terrorist attacks can last for decades stating, “Compare that to the decades of suffering of Mindanawon Filipinos, who have been victims of at least 20 terrorist bombings since 2016. Their decades-long economic suffering makes this COVID-19 slowdown look like a joke.”
On the other more important issues that Angel raised, ‘Thinking Pinoy’ claimed that these are being tackled by the House of Representatives and they have been working non-stop to find solutions.
Thinking Pinoy’s claims did not sit well with Angel who took to Facebook her rebuttals as she called the attention of the site addressing it, Dear TP.’ She started by pointing out that the Congress itself was blindsided by the cease and desist order of the NTC to ABS-CBN, thus prompting it to resume sessions of the network franchise with other pending matters at hand.
She said, “Yes Congress should be on break but HS Cayetano has pointed out, the NTC’s CDO created an unnecessary complication in the ABS-CBN Franchise issue. Even Congress was blinded(sided) by the CDO that prompted HS Cayetano to resume sessions to tackle the ABS-CBN Franchise with other pending matters.”
She also reiterated that the Congress is delaying the hearings and pointed out that the debates are redundant because, despite the presentation of clear evidence and confirmation from regulatory bodies, alleged violations were still raised.
“The hearings are comprehensive to the point of being crazy redundant. It became a witch-hunt…” she added.
Thinking Pinoy in reply agreed that the franchise application is delayed but what makes ABS-CBN different is it chose to ‘bite the hand that will feed it.” stating how the network has been one-sided in its coverage of the hearings yet “ABS-CBN expects the same persons they insult to give them a franchise.”
Regarding the hearings being redundant, it stated that the ABS-CBN lawyers are the ones that beat around the bush instead of answering the questions head-on, stating “If they were just forthright in answering the queries, the hearings would’ve been much shorter….ABS-CBN is aware that Congress is the bear, and ABS-CBN poked the bear. You just don’t poke the bear.”
The site also disagreed that all regulatory authorities are absolving the network, as such the NTC itself admitted that ABS-CBN violated its franchise and DOLE even accused its lawyers of dishonesty.
It ended with stating that there is no curtailment of free speech since opinions are always respected yet added, “If your objective is to merely sympathize with those who stand to lose if and when ABS-CBN fails to get a franchise, then you’re on the right track. But if it is to actually encourage Congress to grant your home network a franchise, then you may want to rethink your approach.”
Dear Angel,
Thank you for your reply, and here’s my reply to your reply.
[NOTE: See Angel Locsin's reply here -> https://t.co/TcLE72hWCF]
[1] ON NTC’S “UNNECESSARY” CDO
NTC had no other option but to issue a CDO after ABS-CBN’s franchise lapsed, as … https://t.co/MQa8saqIim pic.twitter.com/tK3G5m10c9
— ThinkingPinoy (@ThinkingPinoyPH) July 3, 2020
ABS-CBN network is still in the midst of appealing for its grant of franchise renewal and has answered all the allegations raised against it.
In the recent House committee on legislative franchises hearing. some congressmen accused ABS-CBN of using its subsidiary Big Dipper Digital Content and Design Inc. and the ABS-CBN Foundation Inc. (AFI) as tax shields.
But ABS-CBN Group chief financial officer Ricardo Tan clarified that Big Dipper is qualified for incentives given by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and that the Lingkod Kapamilya, which handles its social development programs is accredited by the Philippine Council for NGOs Certification (PCNC) which therefore enables the organization to be exempt from paying the donor’s tax.
Also, Representative Jesus Crispin Remulla again took issue with the TV Plus services which continued in the wake of the order filed against them by the NTC, a subject that had already been addressed in the previous hearings.
