(Eagle News)–Solicitor General Jose Calida did not appear before the Senate panel hearing ABS-CBN’s franchise on Monday, Feb. 24, despite the panel’s invite for him to do the same.
In a letter to Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, Calida said the matters on which he is “expected to express his views and comments on,” after all, “are precisely the subject matter of the petition for quo warranto” he has filed against ABS-CBN.
He said that while the Supreme Court has yet to issue a formal gag order on both parties, the pendency of the petition “brings it under the sub judice rule which prohibits the undersigned both as petitioner and as officer of the court from sharing my views and commenting on the merits of said case..”
He said this was to “maintain the dignity and authority of the court in the administration of impartial justice.”
“I am however furnishing your good office copies of the petition, with the complete set of annexes and the related pleadings, all of which are public documents, which we have so far filed with the Supreme Court for your reference,” he said.
The Senate panel kicked off its hearings on the franchise despite opposition from the House of Representatives, which slammed the move as unconstitutional.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said the Senate could not conduct such hearings yet since the House has yet to conduct its own hearings on bills seeking to renew the franchise of ABS-CBN.
At least two senators said the Senate has long had the tradition of conducting hearings on bills even before the House does.
Senator Ping Lacson, for his part, said the hearings were by virtue of a resolution filed by Senator Grace Poe that sought a probe into ABS-CBN’s compliance to the terms of its franchise, and not by virtue of franchise bills.