Palace insists Duterte never meddled during ABS-CBN franchise voting despite his fresh verbal attacks vs Lopezes

July 28, 2020

Malacañang insisted on Tuesday that President Rodrigo Duterte was neutral when the House committee on legislative franchises voted against the application of ABS-CBN Corp.'s renewal of franchise.

This was despite Duterte's renewed attack against the the Lopez family, owner of ABS-CBN, during his fifth State of the Nation Address.

"He was neutral during the voting that took place in Congress," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual press briefing.

He said  when the lawmakers were still deliberating on the ABS-CBN franchise, Duterte even asked him to announce to his allies at the House of Representatives that he was neutral and he would not get mad whether they would favor or not the broadcast network's franchise.

Further quoting Duterte, Roque said, "'I won't give them any special treatment if they are against ABS-CBN. Vote according to your conscience' and that was what our congressmen did."

During his SONA, Duterte again slammed the Lopezes.

He accused the Lopezes as oligarchs controlling the media.

He also said that he was a casualty of the Lopezes in the 2016 presidential elections.

While the President became neutral, Roque said Duterte also has his personal stance. Celerina Monte/DMS