Strong Push Can Make House Set Hearing For ABS-CBN Franchise Renewal Earlier
STRONG PUSH – The Franchise renewal of ABS-CBN had yet to have a proper and formal hearing from the House of Representatives.
But, an opposition lawmaker, Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said on Thursday that with a strong push, the House could set a formal hearing before the Lenten break starts.
According to a report from ABS-CBN, Zarate stated that President Duterte’s acceptance of the network’s apology was a good sign for the House to tackle the franchise renewal issue.
That signal was a welcome signal from Malacañang to finally convince the House, especially the legislative franchise committee, to keep the bill going by conducting a formal hearing
He believed that if they had six session days, every question that the House would like to ask ABS-CBN could be clarified within those six days. Zarate added, “So that pagbalik namin ng May 4, we have at least 1 month pa before sine die adjournment“.
Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo emphasized that lawmakers should act independently without orders from the president.
In an interview, Panelo stated:
Congress should not and must not be waiting for any signal coming from the President, or be influenced by any statement. Otherwise they have no business in Congress.
However, Zarate emphasized that the “rants” of the President over the unaired political ads in 2016 were “unwritten reasons” for the failure of proceeding with the 11 bills on the ABS-CBN franchise at the House.
Whether you like it or not that’s the unwritten reason there. Although there are statements from the House that there are priority bills…dapat ding bigyan ito ng priority. This has become a people’s issue,
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