Salceda makes fresh attempt for ABS-CBN franchise renewal

A fresh attempt to grant media giant, ABS-CBN, a 25-year franchise renewal was lobbied anew in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, nearly five years since the network was forced to go off air. 

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda prodded Congress through his House Bill 11252 to reconsider renewing the franchise of ABS-CBN, citing clarifications from concerned government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of Internal Revenue that the network did not violate ownership restrictions and did not have pending tax liabilities.

“I believe that the free market of ideas requires competition. A virtual monopoly will not do, as far as disseminating ideas and keeping the public informed is concerned,” said Salceda, chairperson of the House committee on ways and means.

“I also owe it to Albay. ABS-CBN remains the single most important news source in Albay, despite its lack of a franchise,” the economist-lawmaker added.

According to Salceda, pushing for the return of the Lopez-led media is “clearly the right thing to do” taking into consideration thousands of its employees who were laid off since it was forced to shut down on 5 May 2020, at the height of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. 

“The non-renewal of the franchise, however, cost some 11,000 direct jobs. This representation also argued that the information asymmetries that resulted from the loss of an information sourced caused thousands of new Covid-19 infections during the critical 2020 period,” the bill reads. 

Salceda isn’t the first lawmaker to make a bold attempt to have the ABS-CBN license renewed. Since the start of the Marcos administration and the 19th Congress, four similar bills have already been filed in the House but none so far have made progress.

The measures remain pending with the House committee on legislative franchises and are expected to languish there given that the current Congress is set to end in June. 

Salceda, however, is confident that his bill will not suffer the same fate, saying “I rarely file something that does not become law.”

The House, under the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte, thumbed down ABS-CBN’s franchise application in May 2020 for another 25-year franchise after its last in May 1995 expired.

In 2018, former president Duterte had warned that he would “object” the network’s bid to have its license renewed, citing a previous issue with the ABS-CBN, which aired a paid ad by his critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes ahead of the 2016 elections. 

The ad featured clips of Duterte uttering foul language and making inappropriate gestures as well as clips of children reacting to some of his bold remarks, including his comment about the rape slay of an Australian missionary and his cursing of Pope Francis.

Later, on 5 May 2020, ABS-CBN totally went off air following a cease and desist order from the National Telecommunications Commission for its lack of franchise.