Sagip Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta has seemingly recycled old accusations about ABS-CBN.
In the joint committee hearing of the Legislative Franchises Committee and the Committee of Good Governance on Tuesday, May 26, Marcoleta led those opposed to the ABS-CBN franchise.
In his opening statement, Marcoleta accused ABS-CBN of deliberately violating provisions of their franchise.
“ABS-CBN deliberately and with impunity violated the conditions of its legislative franchise.
“These allegations have been around for so long. They weren’t given attention. Why is that? Because people were scared of an influential network,” he said.
He then listed down old accusations against the network that were already discussed and answered during the Senate Committee in February.
Marcoleta again brought up allegations of tax fraud, unfair labor practices, foreign ownership through PDRs, using multiple channels on TV Plus, and the offering of pay per view channel KBO.
These allegations, however, were all answered in the Senate with no less than the BIR clearing ABS-CBN of any tax liabilities, DOLE saying ABS-CBN is compliant with all labor laws, SEC saying PDRs are allowed and does not constitute ownership, NTC saying digital TV can have multiple channels on one frequency, and DOJ saying KBO allowed as part of the franchise’s commercial purpose provision.
Marcoleta presented a new argument that ABS-CBN should not be allowed to get a new franchise because the constitution only allows a maximum of 50 years for a franchise. He said ABS-CBN was already broadcasting since the 1960s which made it more than 50 years.
Marcoleta, however, seemed to have forgotten that other networks have also been operating for more than 50 years. GMA network, for example, has also exceeded 50 years of broadcasting on air.
With Marcoleta’s rehashing of old issues, it can be inferred that he’s just delaying the ABS-CBN franchise which puts the network and its employees at an even worse disadvantage
Currently the media company is bleeding 30-35 million in revenue per day since it shut off its broadcast last May 5, 2020.
