House to proceed with hearings granting ABS-CBN franchise

May 19, 2020

The House of Representatives will forego granting a provisional franchise to ABS-CBN and will hold hearings to discuss the renewal of the broadcast firm's 25-year franchise.

In its Twitter account on Tuesday, the House of Representatives, quoting Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, said: ''The hearings must be fair, impartial, comprehensive and thorough.''

''All voices must be heard. All issues for against will be discussed,'' said Cayetano.

Last week, the House approved on second reading a bill allowing ABS-CBN to operate until Oct 31, 2020 until its franchise is renewed.

On Monday, the House voted to recall this bill to allow congressmen to interpellate.

ABS-CBN's 25-year-old congressional franchise ended on May 4, and the National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease and desist order to the network to close.

Since then, ABS-CBN has been broadcasting through its two cable channels. DMS