Philippines’ largest broadcast network may be forced to lay off workers by August if it is not able to resume operations soon, the company’s president and CEO said yesterday.
ABS-CBN Corp, which has been a repeated target of criticism by President Rodrigo Duterte, was shut down by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on May 5 because Congress had not renewed its franchise that expired the day before.
Carlo Katigbak, president and CEO of ABS-CBN, told a Senate hearing into its franchise renewal that the company has committed to “not take away any jobs for three months” despite the difficult economic situation amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
But Katigbak noted that ABS-CBN was losing up to 35mn pesos ($700,000) in advertising revenues daily due to the closure, endangering the jobs of 11,000 employees.
“I’m afraid if we cannot go back on air soon, by August we may already have to consider beginning a retrenchment process,” he added.
ABS-CBN has filed a petition with the Supreme Court to immediately allow it to resume operations, but the tribunal yesterday did not grant a restraining order and instead directed the NTC to respond to the motion within 10 days.
The network’s franchise renewal was already pending in Congress before the NTC ordered its shutdown, but lawmakers did not complete the deliberations before the capital was put on lockdown in mid-March to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Last week, the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Duterte’s allies, began deliberations on a bill giving ABS-CBN a provisional franchise that would be valid only until October amid public outrage over lawmakers allegedly dragging their feet on the issue.
Yesterday, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano suspended the deliberations for the bill and instead called for debates to give the network a new 25-year franchise.
The House and the Senate, which is holding separate hearings, need to approve a consolidated version of the bill, which Duterte can veto,sign into a law, or not act on it and let it pass into law, to formalise the new franchise for ABS-CBN.
Media freedom groups have criticised the shutdown of ABS-CBN’s dozens of radio and television stations as an an attack on democracy and press freedom at a critical time when information is vital amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines alleged the closure was the result of Duterte’s “personal vendetta against the network.”
Duterte has repeatedly threatened to shutter ABS-CBN, accusing it of producing critical reports on him, including his crackdown on illegal drugs, which has left thousands dead.
The president has also repeatedly complained that ABS-CBN refused to broadcast a campaign ad in 2016 despite receiving payment for the content. The network has apologised for the error and attempted to return the payment but Duterte’s party refused the refund.