THE cases for and against the renewal of the franchise of the broadcasting network ABS-CBN must be heard by Congress. Let Congress do its job, separately and independently of the solicitor-general’s lawsuit before the Supreme Court.
While the core issue is whether ABS-CBN shall be granted an extension of its 25-year original grant, Congress and the Supreme Court will tackle the cases differently.
Full airing of the questions that interest us legislators and the constituents we individually represent will help us give an informed vote on pending bills seeking to renew ABS-CBN’s franchise. That is of primary concern to me and, I believe, my colleagues, given the current sound and fury from the impassioned debate on the controversy.
There are only a few sessions of Congress left before the end of March 2020.
But Speaker Allan peter Cayetano and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, however, have said on public record that ABS-CBN may continue to operate until March 30, 2022, the end of the 18th Congress, or until the legislature will have acted on the pending bills regarding its franchise. That has been the rule, they said, adopted by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in concurrence with Congress.
That means, ABS-CBN will get not just its day in court but also its day in Congress. The window for the full airing of the issue is not as small as many of us thought.
I have always been an advocate of the rule of law and believer in the mantra of fairness, for everyone, from small citizens to big business. Our trust and hope is that ABS-CBN will get what it is due to the network, as covered by the letter of the law and the spirit of fair play.