MANILA - House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday filed a bill giving ABS-CBN Corp. provisional franchise until October 2020, citing the need for Congress to focus on addressing the coronavirus crisis before tackling the network's "controversial" application for a fresh 25-year franchise.
"Through this measure, we hope to strike a balance between the immediate needs of the people amid this crisis and the duty of Congress to ensure accountability to our present laws," read the bill, which cited government's need
House Bill No. 6732 grants ABS-CBN provisional franchise to operate until October 31, 2020, before Congress deliberates on long-pending bills giving the media giant license to broadcast for another 25 years.
The interim license will "give both the House of Representatives and the Senate [time] to hear the issues being raised for and against the renewal, and assess, with complete impartiality and fairness, whether or not the network shall be granted a franchise for another 25 years."
"We cannot, in good conscience, sweep the accusations under the rug," read the bill's explanatory note.
ABS-CBN earlier answered questions on alleged franchise violations and tax liabilities before the Senate, saying it has not violated any law.
The bill was co-sponsored by Representatives Neptali Gonzalez, Raneo Abu, Roberto Puno, Dan Fernandez, LRay Villafuerte Jr., Ferdinand Romualdez, and Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado.
It was brought before the chamber's committee of the whole.
The House Speaker earlier said starting hearings on ABS-CBN franchise bills would not mean an "automatic" grant of a fresh broadcast license.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) ordered ABS-CBN to stop broadcasting on May 5, a day after its franchise expired.
The directive went against NTC's earlier commitment of giving "provisional authority" for the network to operate beyond its franchise validity.
The House franchise panel last Monday ordered NTC to justify its cease and desist order against ABS-CBN, calling the telecoms regulatory body's halt directive an "undue interference on and disobedience to the exercise of the power of the House of Representatives."
Solicitor General Jose Calida was also accused of pressuring NTC to order the shutdown of ABS-CBN, based on a document obtained by ABS-CBN News.
ABS-CBN's halt in broadcast last week was the first time it was forced to sign off since the Marcos dictatorship. The shutdown imperils an estimated 11,000 jobs.
It has asked the Supreme Court to stop the NTC shutdown order.
The network, which reached millions of Filipinos through its television, radio and online platforms, said it did not violate the law in its 65 years of service.
Amid the recent announcement of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to extend the test run for motorcycle taxis for another six months and include new motorcycle taxi companies supposedly as per the recommendation of the previously convened technical working group (TWG), original members of the TWG who were not included in the decision-making process for this sought the intervention of Congress and Senate to exclude the new players from participating in the extension.
Certain members of the TWG constituted in December of 2018 were taken by surprise with the recent news from the DOTr stating that the TWG already decided to extend the motorcycle taxi test run and include six new motorcycle taxi players.
The excluded TWG member has also called on Congress and the Senate, from which the original directives to conduct a technical working group assessment last year came, to look carefully into the matter.
In a press briefing, Toix Cerna, spokesperson of the commuters’ group Komyut, revealed, “Since August, we have been seeking for the TWG to be convened to discuss the initial data, and experience of Angkas, but to no avail.” Cerna added, “Our task was also to monitor and assess the results of the pilot so that we are informed of what to recommend for the legislative measures pending in Congress.”
Raymond Gascon of Move Metro Manila said in a separate statement, “In principle we agree with the need for the motorcycle taxi safety protocols to be extended to and applied to other motorcycle taxi service providers. Competition is good and should be a welcome development. We are just concerned with the process through which this decision was made without us having been call into a meeting at all.”
Move Metro Manila is a group of policy advocates organizing policy discussions on mobility.
In turn, Atty. Ariel Inton of the Lawyers for Commuter Safety and Protection (LCSP), also a member of the TWG, revealed, “Since the start of the pilot run, I have never been invited to meetings and discussions and now I heard that they have decided on something critical, which is not only irregular but rather suspicious and unacceptable.”
Inton added, “And it seems this exclusion from the recent decision-making process also involves many other critical members of the TWG and we are just wondering why this was the case.”
The LCSP earlier filed a petition for injunction with application for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction against five motorcycle taxi companies: We Move Things Philippines Inc. (Joyride), Habal Rides Corp., I-Sabay, Sampa-Dala Corp., and Trans-Serve Corp. The petition stated that their operations are unauthorized and may cause grave and substantial damage to the public.
“Our objective in the LCSP is to ensure the safety and protection of the riding public,” Inton, a former Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) member, said. “And we are worried that the new motorcycle players who will join the test run may just endanger the lives of commuters because they do not have the same stringent safety standards as what the riding public has been accustomed to in the initial test run,” he added.
“We in the LCSP call on the DOTr to ensure that the welfare of the riding public is given priority by ensuring that the new players the agency is considering to include in the announced test run extension undergo a thorough review and assessment much like what the TWG did back then for Angkas,” Inton stressed.
“We have requested an immediate restraining order to prevent grave and irreparable damage to the riding public in general, and to the pilot program in particular,” stressed Atty. Raymond Fortun of LCSP declared. “Moreover, any accident during this critical period will also sabotage the pilot program,” he added.
Early this year, the House of Representatives passed Resolution No. 2449 urging the DoTr to implement a pilot program allowing, monitoring, and regulating the operation of duly registered and organized motorcycles-for-hire as an alternative public transport utility.
The DoTr then instructed various agencies to form a Technical Working Group (TWG) composed of stakeholders and experts from the government and the private sector to discuss issues attendant to the prospect of two-wheel vehicles operating as public transport.
The TWG was tasked to identify motorcycle types eligible to be licensed, taking into consideration factors like engine displacement, carrying capacity, operating speeds, routes, seat and helmet requirements, and training requirements for drivers, who will eventually need to obtain a public utility vehicle (PUV) registration.
Upon the recommendation of the TWG, the DoTr allowed the six-month pilot test for motorcycle taxi operations in the Philippines starting in July of this year. Since only the motorcycle ride-hailing app Angkas had been established and operating with an eight-month track record at the time, Angkas became the sole subject of the pilot program which will end in December.
"Three months to the pilot could have been a good time for the House and Senate to hear the proposed bills already, using initial results," noted Jason Salvador, Managing Director of LEADER (Legal Engagement Advocating for Development and Reform). "The pilot was just for a period of six months. After that, what will happen to the commuters?" he added.
Inton, Cerna, Gascon, and the rest of the excluded TWG members are asking for greater transparency in the TWG’s procedures and asking Congress and Senate to intervene in this regard. “Transparency in the decision-making process of the TWG is very important so that the decisions do not look suspect,” noted Gascon “It is very curious that at this crucial stage in the TWG, non-government members were completely sidelined,” he added.
Inton also asked why the DOTr is planning to extend the test run. "Why are they extending it? If they are convinced that the test run was successful, why not just direct the Congress to come up with a law to regulate this service?" Inton asked.
The former congresswoman, Las Pinas Rep. Cynthia Villar on has vowed to pursue the proposed measure filed by her husband, outgoing Senator Manny Villar, which prohibits colleges and universities from preventing students to take examinations over unpaid tuition and other school fees.
Villar, who is running for senator under the Nacionalista Party-Team PNoy, said this will among her priorities in case she wins a senate seat in the coming May elections.
Sen. Villar belongs to the so-called “graduating senators” whose term of office ends in June 2013 filed the bill to keep higher educational institutions from implementing “no permit, no exam” policies, saying it amounts to depriving students the right to take examinations.
The bill, however, allows schools to withhold grades and clearances of students and keep them from enrolling again until they settle their accounts. Villar’s bill, however, allows schools to withhold grades and clearances of students, and keep them from enrolling again until they settle their accounts. But Villar’s bill was not passed in the Senate although it was referred to the Senate committee on education chaired by Senator Edgardo Angara. It’s counterpart bill was approved on third reading in the House of Representatives.
The proposal seeks to allow students with dues, unpaid tuition and other school fees to take the midterm or final examination. Students should not be required to secure from school authorities a permit before being allowed to take the midterm or final examination.
The proposal also prevents schools from requiring the payment, upon enrollment, of a down payment or first installment of more than 30 percent of the total amount of the tuition and other school fees for the entire semester or duration of the course.
Villar said he ask his wife Cynthia to pursue the passage of the measure if she wins her senatorial bid this May.
As the senator’s wife, widely-known as “Misis Hanep Buhay,” said it is lamentable this ‘unfortunate’ incident happened to a young “Iskolar ng Bayan” at UP Manila, who could be the ‘key’ to take out of poverty her parents and four younger siblings.
“Another life was wasted due to poverty,” said Villar who has also been advocating jobs for everybody to lead a comfortable life.
To avoid another case of Kristel Tejada, who committed suicide after she was forced to file a leave of absence (LOA) due to unpaid tuition fees, former Rep. Villar also underscored the need to revisit and review the policies of our State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) to which UP Manila belongs, and the other educational institutions in the country.
“What happened to Kristel is very regrettable especially since she was enrolled in a government-subsidized institution mandated to provide high quality education to “poor but deserving” students. Just like other SUCs, UP has a regular annual appropriations from the national government. So it is necessary to look into the need to expand the government’s study and scholarship programs in SUCs. Do we need to give them additional budget so that students like Kristel would no longer be burdened to cough up money for her tuition fees?” said she said. Kristel, considered a “Iskolar ng Bayan,” being a student of UP, a state university, killed herself as she has no money to pay her tuitions fees. It’s indeed sad and a total dismay,” she added.
She said there should also be a review of the SUCs policies for non-payment of tuition fees.
“Perhaps, it’s about time to review these policies,” she further stated. She said Tejada’s suicide also showed the lack of access to education in the country.
