DEPUTY Speaker and Third District Rep. Rose Marie Arenas said Congress can best serve the public interest and at the same time assert its exclusive Constitutional prerogative by expediting the deliberations on the long-pending bills for the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise and by resolving the same once and for all.

In a statement, Arenas said, “It was under these circumstances that both the House and the Senate have relied on the commitment of the NTC  (National Telecommunications Commission) that it would not act in the precipitous way that it did”.

She said they were assured that a provisional authority would be issued to ensure the uninterrupted operation of ABS-CBN while the renewal of its franchise was still up for deliberation.

Arenas said that as one of the proponents for the renewal of the franchise, “I, too, fell for the false assurance that with a provisional authority, there will be no surprises of the sort we saw yesterday (May 5)”.

She said the Cease and Desist Order “is a clear abandonment and disregard of the NTC’s commitment to issue a provisional authority to ensure the uninterrupted operation of ABS- CBN” pursuant to its commitment last March 10 during the first hearing of the Committee on Legislative Franchises on the ABS-CBN franchise.

Arenas pointed out that NTC acted contrary to the unequivocal sense of both Houses of Congress expressed in the letter of the Speaker and the Franchise Committee Chair, as well as the resolution passed by the Senate.

She said they have been in this quagmire since the time the expiration of the original franchise was then fast approaching. Mindful of the coming legislative recess and on the heels of the destructive eruption of Taal Volcano, Congress acted to remedy the situation by calling for a hearing to formally place the issues under consideration by the Franchise Committee and made sure that the NTC was present so that it was fully aware of the proceedings and could thus be guided accordingly, Arenas said.

She said while the country is in the midst of the disastrous spread of COVID-19 and the horror of this global pandemic is still unraveling, “Are we now to be rendered powerless to prevent heaping more misery upon our people by adding thousands more to the ranks of those who are without livelihood and unemployed?”

Arenas said she believes that the merits of the application for renewal are more than ripe for consideration and debate, and thereafter, a vote on the floor. (PhilStar Wire Service/ECV)

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