The Shutdown of the countries broadcast giant

By: Jasper John D. Estores

Broadcast Giant shutdown’s its radio and television operations nationwide in compliance with an
order from the National Telecommunications Commission because of the absence of valid
Congressional Franchise as required by law.

On Tuesday May 5, 2020 the National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease

and desist order to the ABS-CBN management which gives them 10 days after receiving the
order to comply and be off the air. But on the evening of the same date @ 7:52 the network went
off and complied with the NTC’s order, which turned its back on an undertaking it made to
congress that it would give a temporary license even if the franchise had already expired. Since
1986 it is the first time that ABS-CBN receives such order from the NTC after the 25-years
franchise expired earlier than May. According to the representative of the network that they
already filled all the paperwork required for the renewal but the House of Representatives, until
now sat on the issue for three years already and the coronavirus outbreak has made the renewal
more difficult. The licensing renewal anomalies could address President Rodrigo Duterte's threat
to the Lopez family's billionaire owner of the network, to sell the company because its franchise
will not be renewed "I' will see to it that you are out" he said. He also accused the network of not
broadcasting his political campaign advertisement during the year 2016. The move to shut the
network down is widely seen as being politically motivated. But according to the NTC the move
was due to the absence of valid Congressional Franchise as required by the Republic Act No.
3846, or the last amended Radio Control Law in the 1950s. The Law states that “No person,
firm, company, association or corporation shall construct, install, establish or operate a radio
station in the Philippine Islands without first obtaining a franchise from the Philippine legislature
for that purpose”. Many had been affected by the network shutdown leaving its 11,000
employees unemployed in the midst of the country's health crisis. Senate Minority Leader
Franklin Drilon condemned the order saying the NTC abused its authority in a severe way. At
the House of Representatives, Palawan Representative Franz Alvarez, the head of the franchise
committee, said there was no basis for the NTC to shut down ABS-CBN. While NUJP chair
Nonoy Espina said in a statement “All this stems from President Rodrigo Duterte’s personal
vendetta against the network, whose franchise renewal he pledge to block. It sends a clear
message that what Duterte wants, Duterte gets. And it is obvious, with this brazier move to shut
down ABS-CBN that he aims to censor the independent media and threaten everyone else into
submission.

The issue has several sides of the tale about who's right and wrong, what's so troubling is
that although many lives are in danger due to the pandemic, almost everybody is in the safety of
their own homes just to be protected and to stop contamination. NTC issue a closure to the
broadcast Giant where millions of Filipinos rely on getting crucial information and news about
the country's health crisis. People ought to be told about issues at times like this by credible
sources. Although past events may differ from ABS-CBN shutdown, Aesop’s lesson remains
true today "united we stand, divided we fall." We should be battling together with the life-
threatening pandemic, instead of discovering each other's loop holes.