(Eagle News) — The Palace on Tuesday, Feb. 11, denied the filing of a quo warranto petition against ABS-CBN was an encroachment on the power of Congress.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said “causing the forfeiture of a franchise,” after all, “is different from not granting a franchise.”
“The former is exercised by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) in accordance with its legal mandate, while the latter is undertaken by Congress pursuant to its legislative powers,” Panelo said.
As for President Rodrigo Duterte’s remarks against ABS-CBN, Panelo said “these utterances are covered by the free speech clause of our Constitution and have nothing to do with the press freedom of ABS-CBN,” and are “immaterial to the revocation or non-granting of a franchise to ABS-CBN.”
“The remarks of the President against ABS-CBN are utterances of displeasure as he felt deceived by the latter for receiving the former’s money for campaign advertisements without even airing them,” Panelo said.
Earlier, several members of the House such as Deputy Speaker Johnny Pimentel and Cagayan De Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez said only Congress can grant or revoke franchises under the Constitution.
But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the legislative process involved in the grant of a franchise was independent of the quo warranto petition.
