Statement of Solicitor-General Jose Calida on the denial of the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise

"And now, the end has come". (Ngayon, Dumating na ang araw ng katapusan)

Manila, Philippines - 2020, July 10, after the last hearings, the Congress’ Committee on Legislative Franchises denied the ABS-CBN 25 year new Franchise. 70 representatives votes not to renew the franchise, 11 vote in favor to renew.

According to report the decision of the Congress Committee on Legislative Franchises is to deny the franchise application of the Network was arrived at after a thorough, exhaustive, and painstaking consideration of all arguments. 

The public was witness throughout the 13 or the last hearing of the ABS-CBN Franchise, to the grueling interpellations made by members of the joint committee on ABS-CBN’s executives and lawyers as well as on the resource persons from various government agencies like the DOJ, the BI, the SEC, and the PEZA, among others.

As we can see that during each hearings, House of Representatives heard testimonies, received evidence, and meticulously deliberated on the following issues raised against the NETWORK: 

the following are the Issues:

1. American citizenship of Chairman “Gabby” Lopez III

2. Issuance of PDRs to foreigners which allowed foreign ownership in ABS-CBN;

3. Unlawful return of its assets to the Lopez family after martial law

4. Violation of its previous franchise by operating a pay-per-view channel in its ABS-CBN TV Plus (the Kapamilya Box Office Channel) without permit from the NTC

5. Its unauthorized use of AMCARA’s legislative franchise

6. Labor law violations

7. tax avoidance schemes

8. Biased reporting, inappropriate program content, and political meddling. 

If we remember in February 10, 2020, Sol.Gen Jose Calida filed a petition for quo warranto at the SC to forfeit the legislative franchises of ABS-CBN Network Corporation and its subsidiary, ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc. 

House has done its job well. As ABS-CBN, they salute Allan Peter Cayetano, the speaker of the house,  Jesus Crispin, “Boying” Remulla, Deputy Speaker,  Rodante Marcoleta, Deputy Speaker Committee on Legislative Franchises Chair Rep. Franz Alvarez, Cong. Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado, Cong. Mike Defensor, Cong. Elpidio Barzaga, and all those who voted in favor of the Committee Resolution for their leadership and integrity.