A face-saving move?
The House of Representatives on Monday recalled the second reading approval of House Bill 6732 which seeks to give ABS-CBN provisional franchise to operate until 31 October.
The recall was made after legal experts and some lawmakers raised concerns the House may have violated the Constitution when it hurriedly passed the bill on first and second reading in just one day.
Among those who questioned the bill’s passage were Senator Francis Pangilinan, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman. The bill was reverted to the period of consideration for second reading.
In approving the recall motion by Deputy Majority Leader Wilter “Sharky” Palma II, the House all but insisted that the bill is neither defective nor unconstitutional.
In his motion, Palma said the House can pass the bill on third reading “anytime” except that they want to give way to “more interpellations and possible amendments.”
Palma also defended the approval of the bill on first and second reading in one day, saying “records show that the House had in the past made use of the same procedure.”
No certification
Section 26 of Article VI of the Constitution explicitly states that no bill will be passed “unless it has passed three readings on separate days” with the exception being “when the President certifies the necessity of its immediate enactment to meet a public calamity or emergency.”
The President has not certified HB 6732 as urgent, it not involving any calamity or emergency.
Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte insisted that what the House did was “constitutionally sound” without dwelling on the infirmities cited by its critics like Lagman.
Villafuerte said reverting the bill does not mean it has constitutional defects, echoing Palma’s motion and stressing the House wants transparency, due process and fairness.
The House of Representatives is expected to approve this week House Bill 6732.
Act on TRO
On the day of the recall, ABS-CBN pressed the Supreme Court to grant the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued against it by the National Telecommunications Commission a day after its franchise expired last 4 May.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano justified the inclusion of a provision which requires ABS-CBN to broadcast government advertisements for free in the HB 6732.
During the period of interpellation on the bill, Cayetano said the new franchise given to GMA-7 in 2017 also has the same provision.
Under Section of HB 6732, 10 percent of paid commercials or advertisements of ABS-CBN shall be allocated to the executive, legislative, judiciary and other constitutional commissions and organizations.
Cayetano said since airwaves were given for free, it is but right for broadcast agencies to grant free ads to the government, instead of asking it to pay P1 million to P1.4 million for 30 seconds of airtime.
‘Equalizer provision’
He added the provision will provide help to the government especially during crises, adding the 10 percent is reasonable and will not impact on the broadcaster’s income.
“This is an equalizer provision. If we do not put this in, the ABS-CBN franchise whether it is for temporary or a 25-year franchise hindi maooperationalize yung sa ibang mga channel (those of the other channels will not be operational).”
Cayetano defended the provision after Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said the provision will violate the constitutional provision that no person shall be denied equal protection of the laws.
Rodriguez pointed out that while GMA-7’s franchise has the same provision, the previous franchises recently granted by Congress do not have the same provision.
Among those which Rodriguez mentioned are the franchise granted to Radio Veritas Global Broadcasting, Cebu Broadcasting Company and Malindang Broadcasting Network Corporation.
Equal protection
“If some franchises granted by Congress have this particular provision and some do not have… then there is no equal protection of laws,” Rodriguez said.
Cayetano admitted that Rodriguez might be correct, but added he is against striking out the provision. Instead, Cayetano recommended that all franchises that do not have the same provision be amended to include the same.
In response, Rodriguez said Congress should come up with a general law that will require all stations to allocate 10 percent of paid ads to the government.
Rodriguez also proposed to include in HB 6732 an amendment to include an equality clause that would state that all franchise granted by Congress should have the same provision.
Villafuerte said the proposed amendment is noted and will be considered during the upcoming period of amendments on the bill.
p/jhd
Originally Posted by brownie
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