MANILA – Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra clarified that ABS-CBN’s franchise will expire in May 4 this year, contrary to earlier reports that the network will close at the end of March without a new franchise.
Guevarra said during the Senate hearing on the network’s franchise that, under Republic Act No. 7966, the law that granted the company license to operate for 25 years, became effective 15 days from the date of its publication in 1995.
While the law was enacted on March 30, 1995, the franchise was only published on April 19, 1995, the Justice chief added, making the network’s franchise expiration date at May 4, 2020.
The House of Representatives has not yet acted on bills seeking the network’s franchise renewal even as the expiry of its existing license looms and several bills filed.
The ABS CBN is facing a quo warranto petition at the Supreme Court (SC) over what government lawyers claimed were its “highly abusive practices” that allegedly violated its legislative franchise.
Meanwhile, Guevarra said that Congress may authorize the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to allow ABS-CBN to continue operating if its franchise would expire before lawmakers could act on its application for renewal.
Guevarra, whom the NTC asked for a legal opinion on the ABS-CBN case, said Congress may allow the NTC to issue a “provisional authority” for the network’s continued operations until Congress could act on the franchise renewal bills.
“It is therefore respectfully submitted that the Congress, by concurrent resolutions, may authorize the National Telecommunications Commission to issue a provisional authority subject to such terms and conditions as the NTC may deem fit to ABS-CBN and other entities who are similarly situated, authorizing them to continue operating subject to the Congress’ eventual disposition of the renewal application,” Guevarra said.
Guevarra cited PT&T, Smart Communications Inc., and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Inc. as examples of entities that were “allowed to operate despite expired franchises as long as the application for the renewal of these franchises was lodged with the Congress before the lapse of their term.”
“The grant of a franchise is an exercise of sovereign power and under our Constitution, that power is vested in the Congress,” Guevarra said.
“By necessary implication, such power of Congress also includes the power to prescribe the rights of a franchisee applicant pending final determination of the renewal of its franchise by the Congress,” he added.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon then asked the NTC if a provisional authority to operate could be withdrawn anytime.
“Considering there is no more franchise, since it has already lapsed, then we can withdraw the provisional authority anytime, but subject to conditions,” NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said.
Drilon said the authority should not be administrative in nature such that it could be withdrawn anytime “because of its implications on press freedom, on editorial content, of the franchise holder.”
The ABS-CBN has not violated any corporate laws and has regularly paid its taxes for the past years, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said.
Representatives from the BIR and SEC said during the Senate hearing on Monday that the network has been compliant with regulations, contrary to allegations lodged against the network.
“They are regularly filing and paying their taxes for the past number of years,” Simplicio Cabantac, Jr., head of a unit of the BIR Large Taxpayers Service.
The BIR initially did not release the network’s tax payments due to privacy laws but later disclosed that the network paid P14.398 billion from 2016 to 2019, which excludes income taxes paid by ABS-CBN artists, employees, and talents.
The ABS-CBN network has earlier denied accusations lodged on social media that it has not been paying its dues. ABS-CBN has secured a tax clearance certificate from the BIR for 2019.
SEC Commissioner Ephyro Luis Amatong, meanwhile, also said that there was no violation or ongoing complaint against ABS-CBN before the corporate regulator./PN
