President Rodrigo Duterte is a walking contradiction. Last night he said that he is keeping a hands-off approach when it comes to ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal, after he publicly threatened the media giant multiple times that he would do everything that he could to stop them from operating.
In an interview with reporters at Malacañang Palace, Duterte said he is “keeping a healthy distance” from ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal, and that the power lies in Congress. “Fundamentally, the decision is with the House [of Representatives]. Not so much the Senate because the constitution says all of these things must originate from the Lower House,” he said in English and Filipino.
“Forget all about this hullabaloo. The critical move is in the House. And I tell you, I’m not going to interfere… I’ll leave it to Congress,” he said.
Duterte added that he also doesn’t have any plans to stop Solicitor General Jose Calida, who has asked the Supreme Court to terminate ABS-CBN’s franchise and slap the media company with a gag order to cease it from discussing the case.
Coincidentally, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, a Duterte ally, has said that Congress has more important things to discuss than the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise, which will expire on May 4, according to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra. The media giant may face a tough battle once its franchise is up for discussion, especially because Cayetano has publicly said that he is personally against it because of ABS-CBN’s alleged political interference.
Duterte’s personal grudge against ABS-CBN stemmed from the network’s alleged failure to air his election ads back in 2016. Duterte had whined about this publicly and even called the company a “thief” for taking his money. However, in a Senate hearing earlier this week, Carlo Katigbak, the network’s CEO, explained that the network had aired all of Duterte’s national ads, but a fraction of his local ads didn’t make it on air because other candidates had already placed their own. When ABS-CBN tried to return Duterte’s PHP3 million (US$58,871), the president refused to accept it. Katigbak apologized at the hearing to Duterte for the snafu that occurred.
The president seemed appeased with the apology. “Yes, it’s happened already. I accept the apology, of course.”
However, he added that he doesn’t want to get his money back. “Never mind. They can just donate it to any charitable institution of their choice.”
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