DAVAO City First District Representative and presidential son Paolo Duterte and two other members of the House of Representatives filed on Monday, May 11, a proposed resolution seeking to investigate ABS-CBN’s alleged franchise violations.
House Resolution No. 853 seeks to look into the “pay-per-view” scheme of the network.
“By charging the public with its pay-per-view Kapamilya Box Office (KBO) channel through ABS-CBN TV Plus, it has been gaining huge profits at the expense of the public while using the air frequencies provided by the government for free,” the resolution read.
“ABS-CBN Corporation’s operation of a pay-per-view channel through free-to-air signals despite being ordered by the National Telecommunication Commission to refrain from doing so, and await the issuance of appropriate guidelines, is in violation of the terms of its legislative franchise,” it added.
Duterte filed the resolution together with Cavite 8th District Rep, Abraham Tolentino and ACT-CIS Partylist Rep. Eric Go Yap.
According to the resolution, the network also violated Section 11, Article XVI of the 1987 Constitution by issuing Philippine Depository Receipts to non-Filipino citizens through ABS-CBN Holdings.
Under the said law, “the ownership and management of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly-owned and managed by such citizens.”
The lawmakers said that ABS-CBN also violated Republic Act. No 7042 (Foreign Investments Act of 1991) as amended by Republic Act No. 8179, Executive Order No. 184 (Promulgating the Tenth Regular Foreign Investment Negative List), and Presidential Decree No. 1018 (Limiting the Ownership and Management of Mass Media to Citizens of the Philippines and for Other Purposes).
The committee on legislative franchises was assigned by the lawmakers to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation on the probable violations of ABS-CBN. (SunStar Philippines)