Tag: ABS-CBN

President Duterte won’t interfere on ABS-CBN franchise issue, says Palace

Palace to just wait for NTC’s decision on sought for provisional authority for media giant, as legislative franchise expires by midnight   (Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte will not intervene in the issue of the legislative franchise of media giant, ABS-CBN, which is due to expire midnight later, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque. Roque said that Malacanang will just wait for the decision of the National Telecommuncations Commission (NTC) since Solicitor General Jose […]

OSG warns NTC vs issuing provisional authority to operate to ABS-CBN

  (Eagle News)–Solicitor General Jose Calida on Sunday, May 3,  warned the National Telecommunications Commission against granting provisional authorities  to operate broadcasting services to ABS-CBN Corporation and its affiliate, ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc., despite the absence of franchises from Congress. In a statement, Calida said the NTC commissioners risk subjecting themselves to prosecution under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act should they issue the same as the Constitution gives Congress the exclusive power to grant franchises […]

SC asked to stop grant of provisional authority to operate to ABS-CBN

(Eagle News) — The lawyer who filed an impeachment complaint against then Chief-Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has asked the Supreme Court to stop the grant to ABS-CBN of a provisional authority to operate pending the renewal of its franchise. In its 20-page petition for prohibition, lawyer Larry Gadon asked the SC to order Gamaliel Cordoba, National Telecommunications Commission chair, to refrain from complying with the Feb. 26 letter issued by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and […]

Senate approves resolution favoring NTC provisional authority for ABS-CBN’s continued operations

Resolution expressing “sense of the Senate” for NTC provisional authority is while Congress deliberates bills seeking ABS-CBN franchise renewal   (Eagle News) – The Senate approved on Wednesday, March 4, a resolution expressing its view that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should grant ABS-CBN a provisional authority to operate as Congress tackles various bills seeking to renew its expiring franchise. Senate Resolution No. 6 approved in plenary session expresses the “sense of the Senate” on […]

Cayetano: House to start hearings on bills seeking to renew franchise of ABS-CBN on March 10

(Eagle News) — The House of Representatives will start on March 10 its hearings on the pending bills seeking to renew the legislative franchise of ABS-CBN Corporation, according to House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. Cayetano, on Wednesday, March 4, said that the first hearing to be conducted by the House Committee on Legislative Franchises next Tuesday, will set ground rules on the proceedings. The ABS-CBN legislative franchise is set to expire on May 4, 2020.  […]

Sotto: Senate will follow process in grant of franchises to public utilities

(Eagle News)–The Senate will follow a process in the grant of franchises to public utilities, Senate President Tito Sotto said on Saturday, Feb. 29. Sotto said, after all, that “we cannot do away with certain steps to fast-track the process, or else we can be unjustly accused of currying favors to specific parties.” “We will maintain an unbiased treatment to organizations asking for renewal of their franchise. We were elected to serve and protect the […]

Duterte says he accepts ABS-CBN’s apology, notes he won’t interfere in franchise issue

(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, Feb. 26, said he “accept(s)” ABS-CBN’s apology for not airing his paid political advertisements in 2016. “I accept the apology, of course,” the President told reporters in the Palace, referring to ABS-CBN president Carlo Katigbak’s apology before a Senate panel hearing the network’s compliance to its franchise. President Duterte added  that he would not interfere in the network’s application for franchise renewal in Congress. Justice Secretary Menardo […]

Sotto: Why ask us for a concurrent resolution allowing ABS-CBN to operate?

(Eagle News)–Why ask us to issue a concurrent resolution for ABS-CBN to operate? This was the question posed by Senate President Tito Sotto to the National Telecommunications Commission on Tuesday, Feb. 25, a day after Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Congress could issue the concurrent resolution authorizing the NTC to issue the provisional authority “subject to the Congress’ eventual disposition” of ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal application. According to Sotto, the NTC “should be decisive enough to […]

Drilon to file concurrent reso for ABS-CBN to operate until “end of 18th Congress or rejection of franchise application”

(Eagle News) — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday, Feb. 25, said he would file a concurrent resolution expressing “Congress’ sentiment” that ABS-CBN be granted a provisional authority to operate until the end of the 18th Congress in 2022 or until Congress rejects the network’s application for a franchise. Drilon made the revelation in a radio interview, after Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Congress, through the concurrent resolution, could authorize the National Telecommunications Commission […]

Citing sub judice rule, Calida declines Senate panel invite to discuss ABS-CBN franchise

(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 […]

House starts preliminaries on ABS-CBN franchise renewal, but says hearings to happen in May or August

(Eagle News) — The House Committee on Legislative Franchise began on Monday, Feb. 24, its preliminary proceedings on the bills seeking to renew ABS-CBN’s legislative franchise so it could operate for another 25 years. Panel chair Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez also announced that they would start to accept position papers for and against the franchise renewal. But he said that the hearing for this would happen either in May or in August. In the meantime, […]

Guevarra says ABS-CBN franchise expires in May, not March

(Eagle News)–The franchise of ABS-CBN will expire in May, not March, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Monday, Feb. 24. According to Guevarra, this was because based on records, Republic Act No. 7966, the law that granted the company the license to operate for 25 years, was published on April 19, 1995. He said the law, although enacted on March 30, 1995, provides itself that it would become effective 15 days after the date of […]