Speaker Alan Cayetano has explained that no one, not even Congress, can force the Lopez family to sell ABS-CBN or for any company to buy the network.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Cayetano was asked about Deputy Speaker LRay Villafuerte’s proposal to the owners of ABS-CBN to just sell the network.
Cayetano, however, asserted that “no one should force anyone to sell nor buy” property in a democratic set-up that the country has.
According to Cayetano, what Villafuernte meant was for the company to remain intact and prevent retrenchment.
“Ang narinig kong sinabi ni LRay [Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte] na kung mahal ng Lopezes and empleyado nila, consider na i-sell because para tumuloy-tuloy pa rin intact yung grupo nila,” said Cayetano.
Villafuerte in a recent interview has suggested to the Lopez family to just sell the network to save the jobs of their more than 11k employees.
“Bottomline, my suggestion to the Lopez family, they just sell the corporation. If they really love the 11,000 employees or more and they really want to serve the Filipino people, ibenta na lang iyong kumpanya,” Villafuerte said.
“This is just a suggestion. Tutal the Lopez family naman earned already billions and they have other companies. It is just a suggestion, of course. The decision is really entirely up to them,” he added.
Villafuerte who voted YES to the denial of the ABS-CBN franchise said that he will now support the network’s renewal if it is under new management.
“Ako, I will support the renewal under new management,” he added.
Meanwhile, aside from Villafuerte, President Duterte has also floated the idea in one of his public speeches.
In his speech in North Cotabato last December 2019, Duterte advised the Lopez family to just sell the network because he will make sure that their franchise will not be renewed.
“Itong ABS, mag-expire ang contract ninyo. Mag-renew kayo, ewan ko lang kung may mangyari diyan. Kung ako sa inyo ipagbili niyo na ‘yan. Kasi ang mga Pilipino ngayon lang makaganti sa inyong kalokohan. And I will make sure that you will remember this episode of our times forever,” Duterte said.
ABS-CBN, however, is not keen on selling the corporation.
In an official statement sent through ABS-CBN head of communications Kane Errol Choa in May, the network maintained that “ABS-CBN is not for sale.”
It was in response to the persistent rumors that other companies are set to buy the embattled network.
