MANILA (SE): “When freedom of speech or criticism is suppressed, tyranny abounds, liberty dissolves, our country is weakened and human rights are threatened,” Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, the Philippines, said on May 6 in reaction to the closure of the government-ordered closure of ABS-CBN, the country’s largest media group.
ABS-CBN shut down after its 25-year franchise expired on May 4, after the country’s National Telecommunications Commission ordered the country’s top entertainment and media corporation to immediately cease operations on May 5 in what critics say was a huge blow to press freedom. “ABS-CBN no longer has a valid and subsisting congressional franchise as required by law,” the order said.
Foot-dragging by Congress and presidential antagonism has put the livelihoods of at least 11,000 people in jeopardy as well as the free flow of information at a time when the country is battling the Covid-19 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2). Over 10,000 infections have been recorded along with 658 deaths and 1,506 recoveries. However, only 140,134 tests have been conducted so far; a ratio of 1,279 per one million out of a population of over 109 million people.
The Action for Economic Reforms (AER), group of economic reform advocates, denounced what it called the “arbitrary cease-and-desist” order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against ABS-CBN, Inquirer.net reported. “Such politically motivated action undermines the whole-of-society effort to beat COVID-19,” the group said.
AER held the House leadership, specifically speaker, Alan Peter Cayetano, accountable for delaying the network’s franchise renewal, making him “complicit in the conspiracy to close down ABS-CBN.”
CBCPNews reported on May 6 that Radio Veritas, which played a key role during the Martial Law years under late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, stood behind ABS-CBN. The Martial Law strongman also famously shut down media and people he deemed unfavourable to him.
Radio Veritas president, Father Anton Pascual, said they continued to stand for press freedom as “a crucial safeguard” of truth against lies “as we have historically protected the freedom of the press since the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.”
Father Pascual added, “We pray that our lawmakers would expeditiously resolve the renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN,” stressing that the issue must be resolved immediately as the country wrestles with the coronavirus that entails “solidarity” and not a divided nation posed “by this unnecessary situation.”
The closure also sparked an uproar among the country’s top Catholic schools, CBCPNews reported. The Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) said the network’s forced shutdown shows “shades of martial law” under late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, “when the airwaves went silent as the dictatorship sought to quell the free exchange of news, information and commentary.”
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Ateneo’s president, Jesuit Father Jose Ramon Villarin, said, “ABS-CBN’s closure extinguishes the brightest light in our information firmament and leaves the smaller ones in darkness and peril.” He also urged legislators to act quickly to approve the broadcaster’s franchise.
The University of Santo Tomas called the shutdown a “clear disservice” to Filipinos in this time of Covid-19 pandemic “when information, delivered fast and wide is key to saving lives”.
De La Salle University on Tuesday also lit up the facade of its iconic St. La Salle hall in red, green and blue, which are the signature colours of ABS-CBN.
Filipino stars such as Nora Aunor, Vilma Santos, Maricel Soriano and Sharon Cuneta all sided with ABS-CBN against those who threaten the livelihood of thousands of the network’s employees and countless others who depend on it for information, PhilStarreported.
Santos, who is House deputy speaker and representative for the province of Batangas is unfazed and expects the media giant to return. “I will not bid farewell since I know you will return!!! Long live, ABS-CBN,” she posted on Instagram.
Aunor said, “I considered the people who are affected by this incident… I know many employees of the company will lose their jobs and their families who count on the network will suffer. And ideally this shouldn’t have happened while we are going through the COVID-19 crisis.”
Presidential spokesperson, Harry Roque, insisted that allegations of a presidential vendetta against the network. “President Duterte is neutral on that issue (Congress granting a franchise). So, our lawmakers should not worry if they decide to award another franchise to ABS-CBN,” he said on May 6.
Many, however, were unconvinced that Duterte had no hand in ABS-CBN’s closure.
“Duterte owns Congress. It is a fact. He may say he is neutral about this issue but he has the numbers there,” said one network employee who wished to remain anonymous, UCAN reported.
“If Congress will not act (to grant a franchise), then it is tantamount to saying, we will have no jobs while Duterte is president. We are helping thousands of Filipinos during this pandemic. Why would they do this?” the employee went on to ask.
UCAN also reported the Free Legal Assistance Group, a group of human rights lawyers, as lamenting, “This is how liberties die … the (closure) order undermines the freedom of the press by singling out the one network that had been publicly identified as having incurred the ire of the president.”
