I'VE been watching catfights lately. Yes. I am referring to both literal catfights on YouTube and the catfight between the two giant institutions in the country. But I'd rather talk about the latter since it's the catfight of the decade.
The press is dubbed as the fourth estate, the watchdog that checks the three branches of the government. Although they take adversarial positions, the press and the government are not at all time nemesis. They have a symbiotic relationship. They use each other for their own gains. Let me put this in a simple perspective. Media has the power to make or break a person, organization, and careers. Hence, this power is being used by politicians for image building and to further their political ambitions. To say the least, media becomes the enabler, the kingmaker.
However, what do media organizations get in return if the politicians they favored gets elected? The money they get from paid political advertisements is not the real deal. Like any other media companies, ABS-CBN is a conglomerate. They also own other platforms like radio and print publishing. The Lopezes also own many other businesses in the country. So, to answer what do they get in return, they will enjoy less strict and looser regulations, and enacted laws to their advantage. In short, to keep their businesses going.
So why the relationship of the current administration and ABS has gone sour? Let's go back to the campaign period in 2016. Two paradigms have already shifted at the time. The media landscape drastically changed with the feat of social media. This has contributed to the demise of the power of broadcast media. Traditional media have no longer the monopoly of content creation and dissemination. Hence, they have lost grip of the most valuable currency, the information.
Meanwhile, the other phenomenon that occurred during this time is the worldwide frustration on democracy. In the country, democracy is attributed to a political party run by oligarchs. So, here comes a candidate from the south, an outlier, who capitalized on the people's frustration on the long-reigning oligarchs. He was also able to harness the power social media by creating his own army of trolls. With this new platform, ABS became dispensable.
This turn of events has threatened many institutions. An outsider with a semblance of a dictator might win. To protect many interests, the machinations were put in place. To put it bluntly, ABS seemingly took the adversarial position. They framed Duterte negatively in most of their headlines and coverage. Their final blow was when they failed to air some of the paid political ads of the president and instead aired the black propaganda of Senator Trillanes despite the temporary restraining order. What happens next would be a personal vendetta.
When Duterte took office, robust critics were silenced. This includes not only personalities like Senator De Lima and Senator Trillanes but media outfits such as Philippine Daily Inquirer and Rappler, that are critical of the president. But of course, ABS-CBN would not be spared. The government looked for loopholes that will pin down the network. And voilà, the franchise renewal.
I will not delve deeper into the legalities but rather show you the vivid scheme that is employed here. When the franchise of ABS is about to expire, they filed for renewal in 2016 and in the subsequent years. The renewal remains pending for several reasons. Then the House committee on legislative franchise decided to let them operate beyond the expiration date. The first strategy, the delaying tactic, did not work, so another strategy was in place. Solicitor General Jose Calida lodged a quo warranto petition against ABS for the alleged abusive practices in its ownerships and operations. However, the National Telecommunications Commission upheld the Senate resolution giving the network provisional authority to operate beyond expiration. With NTC blocking the way, Calida threatened the commissioner with graft charges. The NTC yielded and ordered a cease and desist against the network. The network stopped broadcasting on the 5th of May.
What is happening here is the classic intimidation and "panggigipit" case. Clearly, an invisible hand is behind the delay of the franchise renewal, the attack of the SolGen, and the ninja move of NTC. To say that the president has nothing to do with it is a very naïve way of understanding how politics works in the country. It is worth mentioning that, after all, we hold the record as most dangerous place to practice journalism for consecutive years.
Interestingly, the two parties have tried to patch things up but failed. The network tried to return the money for the unaired political ads, but it was not accepted. On the other hand, the president appointed Gina Lopez as the DENR secretary to appease the network but was later removed from her position. However, as I said earlier, this is a catfight, a standoff of power. Whoever yields first loses.
This catfight may last for a longtime with impending plot twists in the end. And as predicted, many will dip their fingers on this fiasco to springboard their political ambitions. This catfight is rather like a movie with a logline that goes "What happens to the country when a threatened media mogul bruises the ego of a dictatorial regime." And just like the movies, the people who will get caught in between the clash of the titans suffer the most. Its implications in media practice and governance will be a whole different sequel.
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Tom Bauya is faculty at the Department of Communication and Media Studies of the Mindanao State University-Marawi campus. He is currently taking up his master's degree in Media Studies (Film) at UP-Diliman.