Off air

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 15 Jul 2020 by Romeo Bernardo

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Since its franchise to operate expired in May, broadcast giant ABS-CBN had been fighting a losing battle to secure a new franchise from congress. After a series of hearings by the committee on legislative franchises of the House of Representatives, the members finally voted last Friday to deny the media firm a new franchise. Without a doubt, politics is behind the vote. Several times since taking office, President Duterte had publicly vented his anger against the media network and threatened to block the renewal of its franchise; at one point even advising the owner, the Lopez group, one of the oldest conglomerates in the country, to just sell. Somewhat more surprising is that the Lopez family, itself a seasoned player in Philippine politics, had failed to find a win-win solution in the interim. The talk in business circles is that some members of the family, recalling the takeover of its broadcast facilities under Marcos’s martial rule decades ago, have decided to simply wait out this administration to protect its legacy of fighting dictatorships, and in the meantime, take its business to online platforms. The quarrel aside, critics of the non-renewal of ABS-CBS’s franchise have raised broader issues, including threats to press freedom,[1] the damage to the investment environment,[2] and the bad timing in general in light of the severe socio-economic impact of the covid-19 crisis[3]. Indeed, leading pollster SWS found that 75% of Filipinos wanted ABS-CBN’s franchise renewed. As we said in our outlook report in May, notwithstanding covid-19’s clear and present danger, succession planning remains high on the President’s mind; and the ABS-CBN affair is about the 2022 ele...