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MANILA – Another bill that seeks to revive the ABS-CBN broadcast franchise has been presented before the House of Representatives, this time by the representative of the 3rd district of Camarines Sur, Gabriel Bordado.
House Bill 8333, introduced on January 12, was officially referred to the Legislative Franchise Committee during Tuesday’s plenary session.
In his explanatory note, Bordado pointed out the impact of the Kapamilya network going off the air after its broadcast franchise expired on May 5 of last year.
“We also stopped having possible avenues for the dissemination of fast and accessible information at a time when the landscape and the conduct of education are forced to change due to the limitations caused by the pandemic,” he said.
Information was also difficult to obtain during the outbreak of several typhoons that hit the capital region and several areas in Luzon last year, according to the lawmaker.
“As we saw during the back-to-back typhoon onslaught in 2020, the shutdown proved to be a debilitating blow by providing and relaying updates, warnings and calls for assistance to families devastated by these extreme events,” he noted.
The referral came after Vice President Vilma Santos’ bill 8298, which also seeks to give ABS-CBN another 25-year franchise, which was referred to the same panel on Monday.
The panel has initial jurisdiction over all legislative franchise applications.
On July 10, 2020, the same panel denied ABS-CBN’s previous franchise applications, including HB 4305, also authored by Santos, and bills 5608, 5753, and 6732, which were co-authored by Bordado. .
On January 4, 2021, Senator Vicente Sotto III presented a similar proposal, Senate Bill No. 196, in the Senate.
Sotto had said the change in House leadership could give ABS-CBN a “better chance” at landing a new broadcast franchise.
Bordado also co-authored House Resolution 639, written primarily by Albay’s representative Edcel Lagman, which advocates for the panel to bring franchise bills to plenary.
It represents the former congressional seat of Vice President Leni Robredo, who also supports the granting of another congressional franchise to ABS-CBN.
The non-renewal of its franchise forced ABS-CBN to lay off thousands of workers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and left rural households without a stable source of information amid various calamities that struck. to the country.
ABS-CBN, ABS-CBN franchise, Rep. Gabriel Bordado, Vilma Santos-Recto, new ABS-CBN franchise, ABS-CBN legislators, Bill 8333
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