Sa tagal tagal ng panahon mula pa kay dating presidente Marcos hanggang sa mga nagdaang mga presidente, ngayon lang sa panahon ni pangulong Duterte, na tanggalan ng maskara ang ABS-CBN.

Alam naman nating ang ABS-CBN ay isang giganteng kompanya na pagmamay-ari ng mga Lopez, na naging party ng buhay ng mga Filipino sa pagpapalaganap ng balita, pero karamihan sa mga balita nito ay pang brainwash, akalain mo noong bata pa ako, tumatak sa isip ko na masama at malagim ang martial law, na masama si Marcos.

At yan ang tumatak sa mga nakakarami lalo na sa mga probensya, na ABS-CBN lang ang nasasagap sa kanilang TV, lalong lalo na sa Mindanao at mga liblib na barangay.

At ngayon kinakarma ang ABS-CBN,  sa mga paglabag, hinggil na rito ang Tax issue, Fake news at ang Citizenship ni Lopez na ayon sa ating batas, ay dapat isang Filipino Citizen ang pweding magkaroon o mag mamay-ari ng isang TV / radio network.

Idagdag narin natin ang karma nila noong election sa paggamit ng mga bata para sa propaganda laban kay pangulong Duterte, at yung bahay na binalita nila sa Cagayan de Oro, na umanoy pagmamay-ari ni Duterte na hindi naman pala.

The photocopy of Lopez’s US passport showed that it was issued on Feb. 14, 1996 and bore the number 7000820102.

This was the year when Lopez assumed the chairmanship of ABS-CBN. He was the corporation’s president from 1993 to 1996. He joined the firm as finance director in 1986, the year the company was handed back to the Lopez clan by then-President Corazon Aquino.

The Constitution limits ownership and management of mass media “to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly-owned and managed by such citizens.”

The birth certificate of Lopez, a copy of which was obtained by The Manila Times, shows that it was issued by the Registry Division of Boston in Massachusetts. It listed his birth date as Aug. 13, 1952 and his birthplace as Boston.

The document was applied and issued on Aug. 13, 1971 by the Registry Division of the City of Boston under registry number 14229 and signed by Boston City Registrar William J. Kane.

Proof of the document’s authenticity is the Certificate of Authentication from the Foreign Service of the Philippines, signed by Consul Nida Natalie Garcia on Feb. 27, 2001 from the Consulate General of the Philippines in New York attesting that it was executed by William Francis Galvin, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Lopez included these US documents in his application for Filipino citizenship on Oct. 3, 2000 after the death of his father Eugenio Lopez Jr. on June 29, 1999.

The documents clearly indicate that it took Lopez 14 years after becoming an officer of ABS-CBN to decide to become a Filipino citizen.

No, the ABS-CBN Franchise Renewal Issue arises not from Free Speech or Press Freedom as defined in the Constitution, but from Public Services as defined in the Public Services Law [0].

That is, the issue is not whether ABS-CBN should have the right to Free Speech (it will always have that right), but whether ABS-CBN should be allowed to use one of a very limited number of TV frequencies available.

Every free-to-air TV or radio station is required to secure a congressional franchise in the form of a Republic Act, a franchise that usually lasts for 25 years [1]. After this period, a network requires a new franchise, a new Republic Act, to continue operations.

ABS-CBN received its latest 25-year congressional franchise on 30 March 1995 via Republic Act No. 7966 [2]. Hence, the network needs to get a new franchise before RA 7966 expires 25 years later on 30 March 2020.

And that’s the problem.

The Philippine Constitution guarantees Press Freedom, but it doesn’t guarantee access to broadcast frequencies because they’re severely limited by Science.

In the case of TV, there are at most 12 available VHF channels (Channels 2, 3, to 13) and at most 38 in the UHF band (Channels 14 to 51) [3].

Reporters sans frontières / Reporters Without Borders / RSF recognizes this reality when it wrote [1]:

“Licensing became necessary as broadcast frequencies constitute a scarce resource… In Metro Manila for example, the frequency is limited to 23 physical spots for TV channels… and they are all taken at the moment.”

The TV firm ABS-CBN, by virtue of Press Freedom, has the right to create and distribute content, but it has no inalienable right to broadcast over the VHF Channel 2 Frequency.

If access to a TV frequency is an inalienable right of every Filipino, then every Filipino should have his own TV channel. Now, how do you divide the 23 TV frequencies in Metro Manila among its over 10 million residents?

That’s impossible, hence the need for Congressional Franchises, meaning the government has the authority to decide which TV broadcaster wannabes are in the best position to serve Public Interest.

ABS-CBN’s dominion over Channel 2 means somebody else didn’t get it, and that dominion is a privilege granted through an Act of Congress.

Even without a Congressional Franchise, ABS-CBN may still broadcast over the internet, syndicate its content, or do pretty much whatever it wants EXCEPT broadcast via VHF/UHF TV frequencies.

In short, the Constitution guarantees Press Freedom, but it DOES NOT guarantee access to TV frequencies.

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SOURCES:

[0] Commonwealth Act 146. Public Service Law (as amended, and as modified particularly by PD No. 1, Integrated Reorganization Plan and EO 546). http://bit.ly/2ZN1kL4

[1] Media Ownership Monitor Philippines – Reporters without Borders. How to get a media license. http://bit.ly/2Qq7EFz

[2] Congress of the Philippines. An Act Granting the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation a Franchise to Construct, Install, Operate and Maintain Television and Radio Broadcasting Stations in the Philippines, and for other purposes. RA No. 7966. 30 March 1995. http://bit.ly/2QKK1WX

[3] Government of the Philippines – Department of Information and Communication Technology. Framework of the Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) Migration Plan. October 2017. page iii. http://bit.ly/35m61N5

(c) Thinking Pinoy

Opinion:

Tita Nepomuceno : Free speech even they’re lies? Free speech even if they confuse the minds of filipinos, rather than enlighten them of the truth? Free speech to destroy the integrity of people they don’t want? Use press freedom to be partial to some sectors? Press freedom to operate and earn insurmountable profit without paying taxes? And here is ABS-CBN crying out that their free speech or press freedom is being supressed? ABS-CBN’s meaning of press freedom is as twisted as the minds of the people running the network.

Walang kibo, walang aksyon, tahimik ang Facebook Fact Checkers sa mga kumakalat na mga wrong, misleading, half truth, sensionalized news at mga misleading news ng ABS-CBN, Inquirer, CNN, GMA news at ng iba pang media.

Sa mga kumakalat na mga misleading news, half truth kung saan, marami sa mga ulat ng media na walang katotohanan, at half truth (meaning hindi kumukuha ng buong detalye ng report at hindi kumuha ng ulat sa bawat panig) tulad ng “KIKIAM” bakit hindi sila nag tanong sa Hotel na siyang nag hain ng pagkain, kung kikiam nga ba?

In this case, this is a half truth news, kukunin lamang ang panig ng isang party para ma sensationalize at magkaroon ng negative news at masira ang #SEAGAMES at imahi ng bansa.

Another fake news mula sa isang dating reporter ng ABS-CBN, kung saan naglagay ng caption sa isang photo na kung saan makikita sa photo na ginawang table clothe ang watawat ng ating bansa.

Another fake news ng Inquirer, posting wrong photo na kinuha from Nepal, grabi na panira, maka pag balita at makapanira lang, pwedi namang puntahan ang actual aquatic park na kugn saan gaganapin ang #seagames acquatic competition.

Pero tahimik ang rappler at vera files sa mga fales at misleading news. .