After Taking Largest Philippine TV Network Off Air, Lawmakers Now Want its HQ Seized

Pro-government lawmakers in the Philippines have called for more punitive measures against ABS-CBN, the top broadcaster in the country which was taken off air in May after a series of standoffs with President Rodrigo Duterte. The López Holdings Corporation, which owned the TV station, may be slapped with a fine of about 2 trillion pesos ($40 billion) and its sprawling headquarters may be taken over by the government.

The company, which had a net income of about 20 billion peso and total assets over 360 billion pesos in 2016, was forced to shut down its radio and TV businesses a day after its franchise lapsed on May 4. Its request for a 25-year extension was rejected as "undeserving" by a parliamentary committee on July 10. Its pay-per-view and other non-cable digital broadcast services were also later terminated.

The broadcaster had an uneasy relation with the Duterte administration. It had even refused to run Duerte's campaign ads in 2016. The president had repeatedly criticized the TV station's news coverage as biased.

Despite all-round criticism of the shutdown, lawmakers want more severe actions against ABS-CBN. Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta, Deputy Majority Leader Jesus Crispin Remulla and Anakalusugan Representative Michael Defensor defended thier action on Friday by accusing the company of tax avoidance and other offences.

The allegations against ABS-CBN included irregularities in its block-time arrangement with a “dummy company”, Amcara Broadcasting, tax avoidance through a “tax shield” company named Big Dipper Digital Content and Design Inc., and unauthorized digital broadcast using a frequency originally assigned to Amcara.

The company is also accused of illegal selling of set-top boxes over a five-year period. Marcoleta said the 200-peso daily fines alone on the set-top boxes would total about 1.97 trillion pesos.

He also related the 14-day House inquiry into ABS-CBN’s franchise application where network executives had presented a title for only a 42-square-meter lot, and not the 44,000-square-meter complex housing their buildings and transmitters.

Representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr proposed that the vacated radio and TV frequencies be used for distance learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also suggested that the Lopez family sell the company.

As is typical of most cases where the government is pitted against a private company, the real losers will be the approximately 11,000 people who will lose employment along with thousands of suppliers. ABS-CBN is now forced to cease the operations of some of its businesses and implement a retrenchment program covering ABS-CBN and its subsidiaries effective on the last day of August.

One Facebook user commented: You will all be remembered by families of distressed 11,000 employees and that's for sure. Maybe today is your day...but who knows, the next day you'll be fit in their shoes. Karma is just around the corner...God Bless you, heartless solons (lawyers).