MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte accepted the apology of broadcast giant ABS-CBN for not airing his paid campaign advertisements during the 2016 national election.
However, the Chief Executive was not committal when asked by reporters following his speech at the Malacañang Palace if he will sign a measure extending the franchise of the network.
“I accept the apology, of course,” President Duterte in response to the network’s apology that was read by ABS-CBN President Carlo Katigbak during the Senate hearing on Monday.
“I will cross the bridge when I get there,” the President later said when quizzed by the media. “But I will not interfere with the Congress. The critical move of the measure is with the House of Representatives.”
The President also said during the interview that he does not have a hand on the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida against the network before the Supreme Court.
“Ang problema nitong sa SolGen, once he makes an official statement that there is violation of law then I cannot just tell him to stop,” President Duterte said. “But Calida does not report to me.”
On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon filed a concurrent resolution urging the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to grant ABS-CBN Corp a provisional authority to continue its broadcast operations until June, 2022.
Drilon said the proposed measure will be submitted to the Senate Committee on Rules, but he admitted that a concurrent resolution does not have the “force and effect of law,” unlike a joint resolution.
“Ang batas, sinasabi ‘pag wala kang prangkisa ‘di ka pwede magpatuloy ng broadcast. If a provisional authority is issued, ‘yan po ang authority na pwedeng gamitin,” Drilon said in an interview by DZMM.
The provisional authority should run until June 30, 2022 or at least until Congress approves or junks ABS-CBN’s franchise bill, according to Drilon.
The Ilonggo lawmaker has earlier filed a joint resolution seeking to extend ABS-CBN’s franchise until the end of 2022 as the House of Representatives have yet to start tackling measures granting a fresh 25-year franchise to the network.
The current ABS-CBN franchise is set to expire on May 4, 2020, and not March 30, according to Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra saying that Republic Act 7966, which granted it, only became effective 15 days after its publication on April 19, 1995.
Over at the House, Cebu City representative Raul del Mar has filed a joint resolution extending ABS-CBN’s franchise until June 30, 2022.
“Since there are only 11 session days left before the next adjournment of Congress on March 14, 2020, both the House of Representatives and Senate need additional time to review, assess and determine whether or not ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation shall be granted the renewal of its franchise,” the joint resolution read.
The measure would then give a two-year extension of the TV station’s franchise. A joint resolution is treated like a bill, which must be approved by both the House and the Senate before it can be signed by President Rodrigo Duterte./PN
