- Congress has already started tackling ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal.
- NTC agreed to grant a provisional permit to ABS-CBN.
The Supreme Court has again deferred the deliberation on the quo warranto case against ABS-CBN.
In a statement sent to the reporters, SC spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka said the SC justices will take up the issue during their summer session in Baguio on April 14 as they need more time to study the case.
“The justices need more time to further study the case,” said SC spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka.
ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. is facing Quo Warranto petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General led by Jose Calida.
Aside from the quo warranto, the SC is also set to rule on Calida’s gag order petition also against the Kapamilya network.
Calida on his petition alleged that ABS-CBN violated provisions of their franchise when it operated its pay-per-view channel KBO on its TV Plus platform. The SolGen also argued that ABS-CBN’s selling of Philippine Depositary Receipts or PDRs is also violative of their franchise provision under the constitutional rule on foreign ownership in media.
This is the second time that the SC has deferred to take action on the case of ABS-CBN.
Last February 26, the SC also decided to move the deliberation on ABS-CBN case to March 10 to give the justices more time to study the case.
Meanwhile, Congress has already started hearing the ABS-CBN franchise renewal bills.
On Tuesday, March 10, the Committee on Legislative Franchise finally opened the deliberation on the 11 pending bills seeking to renew the ABS-CBN franchise.
During the hearing, Congress reiterated its request on the letter they sent to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to issue the provisional permit to ABS-CBN so they can continue its operations past their franchise’s expiration.
And on the part of NTC, Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba agreed to grant ABS-CBN provisional authority allowing the network to continue operating beyond their franchise’s expiration.
“A more stable legal environment could be created…to authorize NTC to issue provisional authority to this broadcasting company, under such terms and conditions as it may deem necessary until Congress’ final disposition of the franchise renewal bill,” said Cordoba.
“The NTC will follow the advice of the DOJ and let ABS-CBN continue their operations based on equity,” he added.
