The House of Representatives bill granting ABS-CBN a provisional franchise will require the embattled media giant to cough up 10% of its paid advertisements to President Rodrigo Duterte’s government.
House Bill 6732, which was signed by House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and seven other members of the House earlier last week, will allow the media giant to operate until Oct. 31 while the company is waiting for a new 25-year franchise, which remains pending in Congress.
Several media have discovered, however, that Section 4 of the bill states that ABS-CBN “shall provide free of charge” air time to the government to allow it to transmit important announcements and warnings during public emergencies and calamities. The bill added that this “shall be equivalent to ten percent (10%) of the paid commercials or advertisements which shall be allocated based on [the] need to the executive, legislative, judiciary, constitutional commissions and international humanitarian organization duly recognized by statutes.”
The bill also asks the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which ordered ABS-CBN off the air earlier this month, to “increase the public service time” during cases of emergencies and calamities. It added that NTC will issue rules and regulations for this purpose, alongside other broadcast networks with an existing franchise.
Rival networks GMA under Republic Act (RA) No. 10925 and TV5 under RA No. 11320, which were signed in 2017 and 2019 respectively, were both mandated to give the same 10% of their paid commercials to the government.
Read: BREAKING: Congress grants ABS-CBN provisional franchise to resume broadcast
The bill also stated that a “special right” is given to Duterte to “temporarily take over” and “temporarily suspend the operation of any station” in times of “war, rebellion, public peril, calamity, emergency, disaster, or disturbance of peace and order.”
Duterte has carried a grudge against the company because it allegedly failed to broadcast his 2016 election ads. He also accused ABS-CBN of biased reports which portrayed his government in a negative light. Despite authoring the temporary franchise, Cayetano himself publicly admitted that he has “personal objections” over granting ABS-CBN a fresh 25-year franchise.
Read: ABS-CBN may resume broadcast in June if Duterte approves temporary license
Despite the president’s very public dislike of the company, Cayetano last week said that Duterte will likely exercise “fairness” and sign the temporary franchise bill.
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