MANILA – Senators have defended the hearing to be conducted by the Senate public services committee of Sen. Grace Poe on the franchise renewal of the ABS-CBN Corp. on Monday.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the Senate does not violate the Constitution with the conduct of the hearing, as claimed by House of Representatives Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.
“Not at all. Besides, the hearing is focused on the resolutions filed re: ABS, not whether we should approve its franchise or not,” Sotto said in a statement.
He added: “A committee report becomes Senate business. Committee chairpersons are authorized to hear what their committee thinks should be heard. It remains their committee business.”
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, for his part, said Cayetano’s point may be valid since the Constitution provides that bills of local application like franchise measures must emanate from the House.
“Though since as practiced, we conduct committee hearings on tax and budget measures even before the House has transmitted their approved version of bill to the Senate,” Lacson said.
What can be considered as blatantly violative of the Constitution is if the committee chairperson reports out on the Senate floor for plenary debates the committee report which we have not done and will never do, he added.
Cayetano said on Thursday that under the 1987 Constitution, all bills related to granting a legislative franchise should emanate from the House of Representatives, not from the Senate.
“Nagtataka lang ako kay Sen. Grace Poe at sa mga senador. Kapag Cha-cha (Charter change) ang pinag-uusapan, ayaw nila. Huwag daw muna pag-usapan,” Cayetano said in an ambush interview.
Section 24, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution states that “all appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives.”
There are 11 pending measures seeking to renew the franchise of ABS-CBN for another 25 years, but the House Committee on Legislative Franchises has yet to hold a single hearing to deliberate them./PN
