The House Legislative Franchises Committee has set the rules for hearings on the ABS-CBN franchise bill.
On Tuesday, the committee adopted a set of rules for its hearings on bills seeking to award new franchises to ABS-CBN Corp. and to two of its subsidiaries.
“We are setting ground rules today to guide our members in the future hearings for the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise.”
Lawmakers also adhered to the allotted 3-minute period for each person to talk and to value others ‘ views and avoid repetition.
The House panel will be chaired by Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez. He also agreed to restrict the number of journalists who would be protected by space restrictions within the venue.
“We may expect some members to become emotional on the matter at hand and setting up ground rules will ensure orderly proceedings in our hearings,” Alvarez said.
Committee Vice-Chairperson Antonio “Tonypet” Albano proposed specific rules :
- suspension by the Chairperson of the allocated time to a lawmaker or guest who uses expletives,
- indecent and non-parliamentary remarks, or who acts in a disruptive manner;
- declaration of non-parliamentary statements to be removed from the record; and
- limitation to two media personnel per outfit
Also, Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones, who used to be a reporter for ABS-CBN, appealed to her colleagues to remain calm as she expected high emotions during the hearings.
“Gaano man kataas minsan ang ating emosyon ay panatilihin pa rin natin ang respeto sa ating mga bisita becasue at the end of the day, ang bisita ay bisita at dapat ay nirerespeto,” she said.
Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo also clarified that no walk-in guests will be allowed. He also stressed that ABS-CBN will be allowed to confirm, explain or reject any issues raised.
Recently, the involvement of Solicitor General Jose Calida has been sought at the ABS-CBN franchise hearing in Senate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjiquVusNtc
Calida filed a quo warranto against ABS-CBN with the Supreme Court. In the “Very Urgent Omnibus Motion,” Calida is asking the High Court to cancel the network giant and ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc’s franchises “because they exercise their legislative franchises unlawfully.”
Calida followed this by filing a “very urgent motion” to gag ABS-CBN to prevent it and others from making public statements that discuss the merits of the case. The network had five days to submit its comments on the motion.
