House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has broken his silence on the push to renew the ABS-CBN franchise, saying that the bill will have to take a backseat for now.
“Calls to revive the franchise of ABS-CBN will have to wait until the next Congress,” he said in a statement.
Velasco said that the House of Representatives is busy doing the legislative priorities of the Duterte administration including the Bayanihan 3 and economic measures.
The statement comes after President Rodrigo Duterte said he will block any attempt to renew the network’s franchise.
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In a speech on Monday night, Duterte said that he will not allow the National Telecommunications Commission to grant the network a permit to operate.
“Congress is planning to restore the franchise of the Lopezes. Wala akong problema doon kung i-restore ninyo,” Duterte said.
The president repeated his claims that the Lopez-owned company still owes the government unpaid taxes.
“But if you say that if they can operate, kung may ano na sila no. I will not allow them. I will not allow the NTC to grant them the permit to operate,” he added.
Duterte said that he will forbid the media giant to operate if taxes remain unsettled.
“Kalokohan ‘yan. Parang binigyan mo sila ng prize for committing criminal acts,” he said.
Last year, 70 lawmakers voted against the renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN forcing the network to shut down some of its operations and lay off thousands of its employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This year, however, Senate President Tito Sotto and some house lawmakers filed a bill seeking to renew its franchise since the House of Representatives has a new speaker.
During the hearing last July, the Bureau of Internal Revenue or BIR said that ABS-CBN Corp. has no tax default as it has been “regularly” paying taxes for the past years.
The BIR added that the media network giant has no outstanding delinquent account as it was able to pay deficiency taxes.
“ABS-CBN Corporation ay regularly paying taxes for the past years. Na-check naman po na ‘yung dapat nilang i-withhold at na-remit naman nila sa gobyerno,” the BIR said. (TDT)
