One year into the shutdown, House member Hon. Rodante Marcoleta said that ABS-CBN remains firm in its claim that the Network did not violate any law. He said that the Network is the one to blame for its shutdown and not the House members.
To recall, the ABS-CBN Network got forced to shut down in July 2020 after 70 lawmakers voted to deny the Network’s franchise application.
Marcoleta is one of these 70 lawmakers who voted to deny the Network’s franchise.
In a virtual discussion between House members Rodante Marcoleta and Mike Defensor for SMNI News Channel’s DZAR Sonshine Radio 1026, they talked about ABS-CBN’s denied franchise and it’s been their first anniversary.
Defensor, also one of the 70 lawmakers who voted to deny ABS-CBN’s franchise application.
Marcoleta said that ABS-CBN should not blame them (House members) but instead blame the management for violating the terms of its franchise.
“Ako’y nagtataka kung bakit sinisisi kami ni Cong Mike [Defensor] at tsaka ‘yung ibang kasama namin sa pagbasura ng kanilang prangkisa. Alam mo ang dapat na sisihin nila, ‘yung sarili nila.
“Ang nagpasara ng prangkisa, o nagbasura ng prangkisa, at nagpasara ng ABS-CBN ay ‘yung mga ebidensya na nabanggit, napatunayan sa pagdinig ng Kongreso,” he said.
ABS-CBN was previously called for violating the terms of its franchise as well as existing laws and the country’s Institution. The network faced issues like the dual citizenship of the chairman emeritus Eugenio Lopez III, foreign ownership, and labor and tax violations.
Marcoleta then said that the network should have corrected its mistakes before the joint hearing of the House committee for its franchise started.
“Dapat sisihin nila ‘yung sarili nila. Dapat bago nangyari ‘yun, ni-reporma sana nila at bago siguro nakapagsimula kami ng pagdinig, nangako sila na lahat ng kanilang mga nagawang paglabag ay babaguhin.
“Lahat ng bayarin, lahat ng obligasyon na dapat nilang ibigay para sa pamahalaan sa paggamit ng isang pribilehiyo, baka sakaling hindi naging ganoon ang naging itsura ng aming pagdinig.
“Pero mula pa sa simula hanggang sa matapos, napakatigas ng paninindigan nila na wala raw silang paglabag,” said Marcoleta.
He said that the House members just executed the law which led to the shut down of the ABS-CBN.
“Sa ganoong klaseng sinaryo, wala kaming magagawa. Itatanghal namin ang batas. Ilalaban namin ang katwiran at sa harap ng maraming paglalabag na napatunayan namin. Hindi lamang sa salig ng batas, hindi lamang sa maraming batas na umiiral, lalong lalo na sa mismong prangkisa nila ang kanilang nilabag,” he said.
Marcoleta also noted that, “Kaya ang masasabi ko, kawawa naman po sila kapag kung kame ang sisisihin. Dapat ang sisihin nila ang kanilang sarili. Ngunit sabi nga natin, parating nasa huli ang pagsisisi.”
On the other hand, representatives from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) previously said that the ABS-CBN Network did not violate any laws and has regularly paid its taxes for the past years.
Regarding ABS-CBN’s issue on the labor-only contracting issue, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said that the network is compliant with labor standards, and clarified reports on the number of people who work for the network.
The issue about foreign ownership was also cleared as it was reported that ABS-CBN did not make violations with regard to the constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership.
SEC Commissioner Ephyro Luis Amatong reported this when he was asked in the Senate Public Services Committee’s hearing on the compliance of the broadcast network with its franchise and other laws of the country.
“At this time, your honor, we are not aware of any violation of any ongoing complaint or investigation involving ABS-CBN.
“As far as we know right now, there is no violation but this does preclude [any] possible violation,” he said.
Despite all these, the ABS-CBN Network still does not have a franchise to continue its operations on free TV.
The shutdown of the network affected the total revenue and earnings of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) due to the limited television operations of the network along with the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In October 2020, MTRCB announced that about 40% of its earnings were reduced due to the shutdown of the Kapamilya network.
Cont:
ABS-CBN issue with KBO – https://t.co/5zkQhFMsVi
Foreign ownership issue – https://t.co/qfUuV9QFdi pic.twitter.com/JIiHBqjwOF
— Ron (@ron4short) May 5, 2020
