By GENALYN D. KABILING
Malacanang said yesterday that the shutdown of ABS-CBN is not an issue about press freedom but of an expired legislative franchise.
Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar dismissed the “unfair” international media reports linking President Duterte to the closure of the country’s biggest television network.
The broadcast station was forced to go off air last Tuesday after the country’s telecommunications regulator ordered its shutdown over a lapsed license.
“We decry any claims and assertions associating President Duterte with the National Telecommunications Commission’s independent and impartial decision to impose a cease and desist order against ABS-CBN Corp. Such claims are bereft of truth and just a rehash of an old malicious imputation to bedevil the President and his administration,” he said.
“This is not an issue of press freedom but an issue regarding legislative franchise. Democracy, and the free press and free speech that come with it, is very much alive in the country and effectively protected,” he added.
Andanar asserted that “no one is above the law,” saying the network’s shutdown was due to the expiration of its 25-year broadcast franchise last May 4.
He explained that that Congress has the authority to grant or renew legislative franchises while the President “only signs the law to be executory.” The NTC, a regulatory body, on the other hand, is constitutionally mandated to disallow the operation of any broadcast network with an expired franchise, he said.
“Let us be reminded that President Duterte has accepted the apology of ABS-CBN Corp. and this thereby undermines any assumption that the President was behind NTC’s decision,” he said.
Andanar said it would be unlawful if the President intervenes with the independent, regulatory and quasi-judicial work of the NTC. The commission is mandated by law to decide on and execute any policies and programs that are in accordance to the Constitution, he said.
“It is, therefore, totally unfair and objectionable for some parties and some international media to insist that what happened to the network is due to ‘having incurred the ire’ of the President. This assertion is remarkably erroneous, lacks objectivity, and scant in factual basis. Simply, a false narrative,” he said. (Genalyn Kabiling)