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Calida cites ‘trascendental importance’ in case vs ABS-CBN: What is it?

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Calida showed up personally at the Supreme Court yesterday to file the petition, which accused the media company of violating the terms set by Congress when it granted its license in 1995. He alleged that ABS-CBN issued Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) to foreigners, a violation of constitutional regulations on foreign ownership of media companies. He also sought to have Kapamilya Box Office (KBO), a cable pay-per-view channel owned by ABS-CBN, suspended.

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A petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida calling for the termination of ABS-CBN’s franchise is an abuse of his position and represents a threat to every media outlet in the country, Vice President Leni Robredo said today in a statement.

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In her statement, Robredo characterized the petition as an attack on press freedom.

“We should watch over the efforts to have ABS-CBN’s franchise canceled because this is all about [the misuse of] power,” she said in Filipino. “Who has the right to say what is true and important? If the government takes over this right, they are also taking over our right to know what is true. Let’s be clear on this: what’s happening is not the right process to renew a franchise. This is harassment, one that fulfills the agenda of who is in power. Therefore, this is an abuse of power.”

“We should ask: If this is being done on the most powerful network in our country, this can also be done on smaller networks, on newspapers and radio stations, even on our social media feeds, as a way [for the government] to dictate to us what is true and important.”

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Read: “I don’t know what’s right and wrong for you”: Yeng Constantino pleads with Duterte over renewal of ABS-CBN franchise (VIDEO)

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Last night, ABS-CBN issued a statement rejecting Calida’s accusations and saying they did not violate any laws.

“The Office of the Solicitor General’s accusations, which were written on their press statement, have no basis. ABS-CBN follows the law in connection with our franchise, and our operation was approved by the respective government agencies,” the statement said in Filipino.

The company said their franchise was approved by the government and that their PDRs were studied by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange before being sold to investors.

“We reiterate that everything that ABS-CBN does is in accordance with the law. We did not violate the law. This case is an effort to deprive Filipinos of ABS-CBN’s service,” they added, warned that the network will close if Calida succeeds.

Indeed, if Calida succeeds, it would be the second time ABS-CBN has been shut down due to politics. In September 1972, after dictator President Ferdinand Marcos announced the imposition of martial law, ABS-CBN was seized by the government and was handed over to Roberto Benedicto, a crony. Then-ABS-CBN President Geny Lopez was imprisoned but escaped and spent several years in exile in the United States, returning to the Philippines only after Marcos was booted out of power in 1986.

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Read: Lea Salonga, Anne Curtis call for ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal, sign journalist-led petition

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Prior to Calida’s filing, President Rodrigo Duterte had repeatedly said in public that he will block the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise because the company allegedly failed to air his campaign ad in 2016, despite accepting payment for it. He has also accused them of running “slanted” stories that painted him in an unflattering light.

Duterte has the power to veto the franchise in the case that Congress decides to renew it, but House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano has admitted that he too has “personal objections” to granting ABS-CBN a new license, claiming the company interfered in the 2016 elections.

Should ABS-CBN shut down, it would affect 6,730 regular workers, 900 contract workers, and 3,325 on-air “talents.”

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This article, VP Robredo says petition against ABS-CBN a case of gov’t harassment, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia’s leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters!

 Coconuts Manila,Coconuts Manila 42 minutes ago

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RELATED STORY:

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TWIN-PRONGED ATTACK ON ABS-CBN. Aside from the apparent blocking, by sheer inaction, the renewal of the franchise of giant network ABS-CBN in Congress, its enemies have filed a “quo warranto” lawsuit against it before the Supreme Court. The lawsuit alleges violations that would justify the stripping of its franchise.

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Non-renewal of its franchise and stripping of franchise. The first would suffice; why the lawsuit? The lawsuit will be unnecessary after March but its purpose must be to tell the public that killing the network’s broadcasting business is justified. A PR job to help counter-foil the goodwill ABS-CBN has earned through its public services through the years.

ABS-CBN Cebu has been admirably active and visible in helping people during times of typhoons, fires and other disasters. That has been the core of its “social responsibility” not matched in consistency and scope by most other media organizations.

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“MAG-ABOGADO KA NA LANG.” Mike Navallo, a news reporter of ABS-CBN who also became a lawyer, received a different kind of challenge from Solicitor General Jose Calida. At the Supreme Court filing of the government’s quo warranto case against ABS-CBN Monday (February 10), Calida told Navallo that he had been attacking the public official (“palagi mo akong binabanatan”); he should practice law; they’d see each other in court.

An odd way of answering the “criticisms” (Navallo’s news reports presumably) of a reporter. But perhaps that’s a better way to interpret “see you in court,” which generally means being sued for civil and criminal libel.

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JOAQUIN PHOENIX’S TIRADE AGAINST MILK. More of an actual example than metaphor. As the Oscars 2020 winner for Best Actor in the movie “Joker,” Phoenix Monday (February 10) cited at the ceremony the cow in man’s “plunder the natural world of its resources.” He said “we feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her mild that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.

His speech was described as “equal parts moving and kooky. He called for change, asking his colleagues to take stock of their own role in perpetuating injustice — then blasted at using milk for their coffee.

And he quoted his brother River Phoenix (1970-1993), an actor-musician-animal activist who, he said, wrote this lyric. “run to the rescue with love/and peace will follow.”

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4 COPS ‘WEEDED OUT’ OF REGION. The four police officers are not identified by name, not even by rank or their place assignment. It’s not known if charges have been filed against them at any forum but they, along with the 353 others who were pulled out for the same reason, were allegedly involved in drug trafficking.

They are ordered to report at the PNP central headquarters. They would be “safe” there, said a police officer who didn’t want to be identified.

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