Comment on the hearing in the perspective of the Judiciary, subject to the

Technical Rules of Evidence as basis.

The alleged violations of the Constitution committed by the ABS-CBN Corp. that were discussed at the
committee level are the alleged tax evasion, labor law violation, foreign ownership issue as well as the
citizenship of ABS-CBN Chairman emeritus Gabby Lopez III.

On Labor Issues

Several former employees of ABS-CBN attended the franchise hearing at the lower house to tell

their stories about the labor malpractice of the Kapamilya Network, those attended include

former ABS-CBN news reporter Wheng Hidalgo and ex-DZMM host Jobert Sucaldito.

During the hearing Hidalgo bared the Human Resources(HR) department of the network was

talking to her on implementing a NLRC order that reinstating her and two others in their former

jobs at the Lopez-owned network. Hidalgo, who works at TV5, PTV4 and Presidential

Communications and Operations Office (PCOO) after her stint with ABS-CBN under various

capacity, appeals for the regularization of deserving employees if the network granted a new

franchise.

ABS-CBN said they are looking to regularize more employees after Defensor asked the

network why they are several employees are not having a regular status in the network despite

working for 10–20 years.

Sucaldito, who is initially suspended by DZMM, ABS-CBN’s AM radio station on his controversial

comments regarding the mental health of actress Nadine Lustre, an ABS-CBN talent said he is on

favor on renewing the franchise of the network but the veteran entertainement writer hopes

people inside the company, who throw their wits learned a lesson and walk their talk.
‘’I am for the No to Shutdown, but yung mga tao sana sa loob who really throw their wits around I

hope you also learn your lesson. I hope you walk your talk,” Sucaldito, quoted in an article of

Rappler said.

Sucaldito later on filed an illegal dismissal complaint against DZMM before the DOLE last

March.

DOLE Undersectary Anna Dione on the house hearing said, the netwok was complied with the

labor standards after it complies on the violations they found during a labor inspection from July

to September 2018. She clarified this is not include the labor cases filed by fomer network

employees before the NLRC.

DOLE on Friday shot back on ABS-CBN, saying its officials and lawyers are misrepresent the

position of the department regarding the labor issues facing the network for the sake of obtaining

a new congressional franchise.

‘’The facts bear us out. Our labor inspectors found violations of laws and standards by ABS CBN.

And on account of those findings, the company took steps to correct those infractions,’’ DOLE

said on Friday.

‘’It is therefore patently misleading to attribute to us the claim that ABS CBN is a compliant

company. In fact, there are 67 pending cases against the company in the NLRC and the various

courts,’’ the department added.

The arguments of the lawyers of ABS CBN is always anchored on the possible loss of more or less 11 000
employees if the franchise would be denied, however, this will not negate the facts and circumstances
that were presented during the hearing with regard to their alleged labor violations. Although they were
able to counter some alleged violations specifically with regard to the program employees and the work
pool system, they were not able to stand their ground on the other issues with regard to illegal
termination of those employees that personally testified during the hearing.

ABS CBN also made misleading statements when they claimed that as per DOLE, they were compliant
with the labor laws, well in fact there are 67 pending cases against the company in the NLRC and various
courts.

A franchise is a privilege and not a demandable right. It is a permit originating

from the sovereign power of the state, and thus subject to regulations and the
police power of the state via relevant institutions, including Congress. The
primordial consideration of why a franchise is given to a mass media entity is
fundamentally based on the notion of the promotion of public good and public
interest as deemed determined to be important by the state. If in any case, a
media network falls short of such an expectation, the state can take back such
a privilege and give it to another who it deems more deserving.

Instead of giving plausible and direct counter arguments to the alleged

violations, the network kept on mentioning the possible loss of jobs of the
network would not be granted a franchise.

ABS CBN’s lawyers also mentioned some labor rules specifically Policy
Instruction No. 40 issued by the then Labor Minister in 1979 was
volunteered to the House committee as the basis for the work arrangement
in ABS-CBN.

The Labor department pointed out that the cited rule governing the
employee-employer relationship in the broadcast industry 40 years ago is no
longer aligned with the provisions of the Labor Code.

Misleading as it is, it conveniently leaves the impression that the policy was
that of current Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd,” the department said.

This is a manifestation that the lawyers of ABS CBN did not make an
adequate research with regard to the laws that they are going to cite in the
hearing. This is in violation of the CPR with regard to the duty of lawyers to
be informed and be abreast of the laws.

On the citizenship Issue

House Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta during the joint House hearing of the committees on
legislative franchises and good government and public accountability on Tuesday, May 26.
He cited an opinion piece published in the Manila Times on February 24 titled "ABS-CBN’s
head honcho Gabby Lopez is a US citizen," by Rigoberto Tiglao.
Marcoleta said: "ABS-CBN's former president, Mr Eugenio 'Gabby' Lopez III was an American
citizen when he took the helm of the company in 1986 as director then president and then
chairman in the later years. It was only in 2000 that he petitioned for recognition of Filipino
citizenship and was issued a certificate of recognition as a Filipino citizen in 2002."

He asked how come that he was not able to register his birth even after he reached the age of majority
and how come he was able to get the Certificate of Recognition without his documents being
authenticated. Gabby Lopez merely answered that he forgot the reason why he was not able to register,
maybe he forgot. He also passed the question to his lawyer but this was rebutted by Representative
Marcoleta

Evidence

One of the things I noticed during the hearing was that the members of the House did not follow the
“PRESUMPTION of regularity” . The Supreme Court held in many cases resolved by it that The
presumption of regularity in the performance of official duties is an aid to the effective and
unhampered administration of government functions.

In the case of ABS CBN, there were many pieces of evidence presented coming from rulings and
statements of administrative, quasi – judicial bodies and even the Supreme Court. One of which is
the BIR on their statement and testimonies on the taxes paid and cleared by the agency for ABS
CBN Broadcasting Corporations and its group of companies. These taxes paid were actually
attested to under oath by BIR officers, however, some congressmen didn’t believe it and went on
throwing questions and doubts against the agency despite of the pieces of evidence presented.

Also, the SEC, a regulatory quasi judicial body attested to attested to the propriety and regularity of the
Philippine Depository Receipts (PDR) issued by ABS-CBN Holdings Inc. and that these are investment
instruments and are not shares of stock and ownership of ABS-CBN Broadcast Corpm however, again these
were not accepted by the congressmen and continued pushing through with their personal opinion.
The DOLE also attested to the number of employees which the network has and presented records
and findings of the company to prove such statements but this again was not belived by some of the
members of the house.

There was also one instance when they questions how Gabby Lopez was approved of his Certificate of
Recognition by the Immigration despite his allegation that the papers and documents presented during that
time when those were not authenticated by PSA.

Also, Testimonies, records, documents attested to and accepted as regular and authentic by the Supreme Court
were put in doubt by the congressmen. For instance, they insisted on finding the actual transcripts on the
arbitration proceedings between the Cory Government and ABS-CBN when they doubted how the Lopez
Family managed to reclaim it, despite these being confirmed and attested to by the judiciary.

Despite of their unbelief and doubts to these statements and rulings, they have not presented any hard evidence
contrary to what the agencies and government officials have presented. With that kind of appreciation of
evidence, there is no way for anybody to defend themselves of unjust charges.

They also made a lot of conclusions and leading questions when they asked questions. There was one instance
that Representative Marcoleta was asking about the citizenship of Mr. Gabby Lopez and although the latter
was not able to answer the questions properly and passed the same to his lawyer, it sounded as if he was trying
to make a conclusion of the events when in fact Mr. Gabby Lopez was not yet able to answer the question.
When his lawyer was about to answer, he cut him and made a remark that it is for him (the lawyer) to tell the
people and make the people understand.

The problem with all these acts of the congressmen is that, this one is a public hearing and their manifestations
of not following the principles laid down by the Supreme Court and respecting the rulings and statements of
administrative and quasi-judicial bodies would give the public the impressions that these institutions are not to
believed in and that they being members of the house could easily bend the rules in their favor.