Pinaninindigan ni Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano ang desisyon ng House Committee on Legislative Franchises na huwag bigyan ng prangkisa ang ABS-CBN.
Sa isang Facebook post, iginiit ni Cayetano na ang desisyon ng komite ay hindi issue ng press freedon bagkus ito ay hakbang para lipulin ang oligarkiya sa bansa.
Inihalimbawa ni Cayetano ang mga may-ari ng ABS-CBN, na aniya’y iniikutan ang batas para hindi makapagbayad ng buwis.
May kakayahan kasi aniya ang mga oligarchs na gamitin ang legal system para mangbiktima ng mga tao at kumuha ng mga abogado na babaluktot sa batas para sa sariling commercial interests.
“Yes, their methods for avoiding taxes in the billions of pesos may appear ‘legal,’ but how can you argue that putting that much money in the pockets of one family, instead of having it benefit the millions of Filipinos who desperately need it, is in any way right or moral?” ani Cayetano.
“It wasn’t the government who shut ABS-CBN down, rather it was their owners’ playing fast and loose with our laws in the past decades, that made the shutdown inevitable,” dagdag pa nito.
Sinabi ng lider ng Kamara na tanging P563 million ang binayaran na buwis ng ABS-CBN noong 2017 hanggang 2019.
Pero sa pagdinig ng Kamara, sinabi ni ABS-CBN Group chief financial officer Ricardo Tan na noong 2018 lang ay pumalo sa P5.2 billion ang binayaran na buwis ng networth.
Sa naturang post, binigyan diin ni Cayetano na hindi binubusalan ng Kongreso ang mga mamamahayag, host, commentator, talent o empleyado ng ABS-CBN para huwag batikusin ang pamahalaan, kundi winawakasan lamang nila ang prebilehiyo ng isang pamilya sa paggamit ng public resource para protektahan at isulong ang sariling private interests.
“Which is why I stand with the decision of the committee. While my belief in the right of the people – including those who work in the media – to freely express their opinions in whatever platform and manner remains strong, so is my conviction that private interests should be kept at the same arms-length distance as government from controlling the media,” ani Cayetnao.
“Ultimately, people will come to understand that this was never an issue about press freedom. That despite the best efforts of the owner’s to use it as a shield for their abusive corporate practices, Filipinos will see that this is – first and foremost – simply part of this season’s uprooting of the weeds and reclaiming our patrimony from the oligarchs,” dagdag pa nito.
