The recently shut down ABS-CBN network goes to Supreme Court to halt cease and desist order (CDO).
ABS-CBN NETWORK – The ABS-CBN Corp. files temporary restraining order to stop cease and desist order issued by National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
To stop the cease and desist order (CDO) implementation as issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), contrary to the provisional permit they swore to grant the network, ABS-CBN went to Supreme Court and filed for a temporary restraining order on Thursday.
“The Cease and Desist Order (CDO) also violates the right of the public to information and is a curtailment of the freedom of speech and the press,” ABS-CBN has stated in their 46-page petition for certiorari. This petition is to stop the CDO implementation.
They also cited how much the public needs the service of ABS-CBN coming from the entertainment they bring to the people in lock down, to the information the people must know “as the country grapples with the effects of COVID-19”, and their company’s role in providing of employment to thousands of Filipinos.
Moreover, it stated there that the “NTC gravely abused its discretion” when it said prior to grant them provisional authority to operate but issued a CDO instead. Even the NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said this himself in an interview.
Aside from violating the public’s right to information, it also “curtails freedom of speech, and causes serious and irreparable damage on ABS-CBN and thousands of its employees”, this if the CDO is not lifted.
They hold 31 to 44% market share of the Filipino audience and has around 11,000 employees on the verge of unemployment. Also, they stated, that the government, should the CDO continues, will lose them, a significant source of tax revenues which has Php 14.3 billion from 2016 to 2019.
And amid the pandemic, the ABS-CBN network, according to report, was able to raise Php 237 million to help the people.
It added, “The NTC thus issued the CDO with a threat hanging over its head, made no less by the Government’s own lawyer, of prosecution for graft/corruption. Under such climate, the NTC’s impartiality is at best seriously suspect.”
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