President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has promised not to obstruct any moves to grant ABS-CBN Corp. a fresh 25-year legislative franchise.
In an exclusive interview with Toni Gonzaga, Marcos stated that ABS-CBN’s bid for a new franchise was rejected due to “technical issues” revealed during prior House hearings.
He made the remarks while denying that ABS-CBN was refused a franchise due to their “political stance” against his predecessor, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD).
“I know the suspicion is that it is always because of the political positions that they took against PRRD. The actual technical reasons are these issues that were found during the hearings in the House. The question of the ABS-CBN franchise is really about the violations and problems they have encountered during the hearings and the investigation in the House of Representatives,” said Marcos during his interview that aired at the new TV station ‘AllTV’.
RELATED STORY: ABS-CBN, TV5 terminate investment deal
During the 2016 presidential elections, Duterte frequently complained that his campaign advertisements were not shown on the former local network.
Marcos promised that ABS-CBN would be granted a congressional franchise after all concerns presented during prior House hearings “have been resolved”.
“So long those are attended to and those are resolved, there’s no reason actually for the Committee of Franchises in the House to deny them of franchise,” said Marcos.
READ ON: Gadon insists TV5 dodged ABS-CBN’s ‘sumpa’ in termination of merger deal
ABS-CBN suspended its broadcast operations on May 5, 2020, in response to a cease-and-desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
The House Committee on Legislative Franchises rejected ABS-bid CBN’s for a new 25-year franchise on July 10, 2020, citing several issues, including ABS-CBN chairman emeritus Eugenio Lopez III’s dual citizenship, a possible violation of the constitutional limits on foreign ownership, reported labor and tax violations, and other violations of the terms of its franchise.
In January of this year, the NTC awarded the Villar-led Advanced Media Broadcasting System Inc. provisional authorization (PA) to “build, operate, and maintain” digital TV channel 16 and temporary simulcast on analog TV channel 2.
