TJ Manotoc and Marie Mamawal aired their sentiments online about the shutdown of ABS-CBN. The House Committee on Legislative Franchises denied the television giant a new franchise last July 10. But before that, it had already ceased airing on free TV since May 5 following the expiration of its franchise.
As it ceased operating some of its businesses and struggles financially, ABS-CBN has already retrenched thousands of workers.
Agreeing to a statement from fellow journalist Marie Mamawal, TJ said that it’s not just about the jobs and shows that were lost along with ABS-CBN’s closure.
TJ explained, “What the thousands of ABS-CBN jobs lost mean in the context of the ‘humanity of the situation’. It’s not just about the numbers, the stats, the movies, shows, news stories… It’s about the human beings who worked there and they were one big family.”
What the thousands of ABS-CBN jobs lost mean in the context of the “humanity of the situation”.
It’s not just about the numbers, the stats, the movies, shows, news stories…
It’s about the human beings who worked there and they we were one big family. #KapamilyaForever https://t.co/YNMId8dHr8
— TJ Manotoc (@tjmanotoc) August 30, 2020
Marie sympathized with her fellow workers in the embattled network. In a lengthy statement, she described Congress’ killing of ABS-CBN’s franchise as “inhuman”.
She shared that, “it’s not actually the work they will miss…because the work itself is really toxic. What we will miss are the people. People who we have fought in the trenches with. It’s hard to explain but abs employees are actually friends in the truest sense of the word.”
Marie said that this is “almost synonymous to depriving them of their human rights.”
She added, “Who gave you permission to hurt us. We are our country’s content creators. Killing the franchise was inhuman.”
She called the government’s move as the “unkindest and most cruel cut of all.”
“In this instance, Congress may have, in their minds,done its’ job. But they failed miserably as human beings. They have forgotten how is ist to be humane. This government has totally lost its soul,” she ended.
TJ is a Kapamilya journalist who is currently part of ABS-CBN’s North America bureau.
Marie, meanwhile, is ABS-CBN University’s learning and development manager for journalism.
