The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered ABS-CBN Corporation to file its comment in 10 days on the government lawyers’ quo warranto petition to forfeit the legislative franchises of the television firm and its subsidiary, ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc.
Aside from the comment on the petition, ABS-CBN Corporation was also directed to answer the plea of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would stop immediately the operation of the firm’s Kapamilya Box Office (KBO), a channel subscription where viewers can watch their favorite movies.
This means that while the OSG pleaded for the immediate issuance of a TRO on ABS-CBN’s KBO, the SC did not issue a TRO after it full court deliberation and opted to hear first the side of the television firm before resolving the issue.
Also, the OSG’s plea for an oral argument on the petition on March 3 was not acted upon by the SC.
It was not known immediately if the OSG’s plea for oral argument would be taken up and resolved in subsequent deliberations on the case.
Lawyer Brian Keith F. Hosaka, SC spokesperson and chief of the public information office (PIO), said the comment should be filed within 10 days from receipt of the High Court’s resolution.
CONGRESS HEARING
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Tuesday that Congress can proceed with the legislative process concerning the renewal of ABS-CBN network’s franchise without waiting for the Supreme Court’s ruling on the quo warranto petition against the media giant.
“The filing of the petition for quo warranto seeking the forfeiture of ABS-CBN’s franchise is independent of, and separate from, the legislative process of granting the renewal of the said franchise upon expiration of its term in March,” Guevarra stressed.
There are several bills pending in Congress concerning the renewal of the franchise.
“We want to put an end to what we discovered to be highly abusive practices of ABS-CBN benefitting a greedy few at the expense of millions of its loyal subscribers. These practices have gone unnoticed or were disregarded for years,” the OSG had said in a statement.
“The petition will show that ABS-CBN has been broadcasting for a fee, which is beyond the scope of its legislative franchise,” it cited.
The OSG added that the network has been hiding behind an “elaborately crafted corporate veil” which allowed “foreign investors to take part in the ownership of Philippine mass media entity, in gross violation of the foreign interest restriction of mass media provided under Section 11, Article XVI of the Constitution.”
ABS-CBN has denied all claims made by Calida. (Rey Panaligan and Jeffrey Damicog)
