With all eyes on the House panel waiting for the fate of the embattled network, Palawan 1st District Rep. Franz Alvarez, the chairperson of the House committee, announced that an overwhelming 70 lawmakers voted to adopt the technical working group’s (TWG) report titled: “Resolution Denying the Franchise Application of ABS-CBN Corporation to Construct, Install, Establish, Operate and Maintain Radio and Broadcasting Stations in the Philippines”.

Only 11 lawmakers voted against the report, while two inhibited and one abstained.

This essentially means that the resolution was adopted, marking the denial of ABS-CBN’s franchise application.

A total of 85 members registered their votes—of which 46 are regular members and 39 ex-officio members of the committee. As such, it would have only taken 43 votes to get the majority.

The vote came after the House legislative franchise and good government and public accountability committees held 13 hearings tackling various issues such as citizenship of the network’s chairman emeritus Gabby Lopez, alleged labor violations, tax evasion, as well as alleged political bias, among others.

With the franchise bid of ABS-CBN denied at the committee level, what’s next?

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, an ex officio member of the committee, told INQUIRER.net that there are remedies that ABS-CBN and lawmakers who are for the franchise can resort to including the re-filing of a new bill which shall undergo the same process that the denied bills for the franchise went through.

Zarate also disclosed that there is a rule where a lawmaker who voted with the majority—in this scenario, a person who voted against the franchise renewal—can file a motion for reconsideration.

“[One remedy is] when a member file[s] for a motion for reconsideration, but not everybody can file a motion for reconsideration. Only a member who voted with the majority can vote for motion for reconsideration,” Zarate said.

“The motion for reconsideration will be heard in the same meeting if it’s raised in the same meeting or if it is raised on the same day on writing, it should be calendared by the committee for a hearing,” the lawmaker added.

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