Kontra si House Committee on Legislative Franchises vice chairman Antonio Albano sa panawagan ni Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza na magbitiw si Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez bilang chairman ng komite.
Sa ambush interview kay Albano, pinabulaanan nito ang alegasyon ni Atienza na inuupan lamang ni Alvarez ang 11 panukala para sa franchise renewal ng ABS-CBN na nakabinbin sa komite.
“We know for a fact that we have a hardworking chairman; that the chairman is doing his best,” ani Albano.
Sa katunayan, ginagawa naman aniya ni Alvarez ang lahat ng makakaya nito para dinggin ang mga panukalang nakabinbin sa kanilang komite.
Ayon kay Albano, hindi lang naman kasi prangkisa lamang ng ABS-CBN ang inaatupag ng kanilang komite.
Kasabay nito, tiniyak ng kongresista na tatalakayin pa rin House Committee on Legislative Franchises ang franchise renewal application ng media giant.
Para maiwasan naman na maimpluwensyahan sa hindi magkasundong panig sa pagtalakay ng naturang usapin, sinabi ni Albano na nagsasagawa sila ng closed-door meetings.
“We assure the public later on that we will hear the case because the chairman, and the leadership of the House in particular, has been closely monitoring the events but we also have a lot of other issues to tackle before we tackle the ABS-CBN franchise,” ani Albano.
“Remember that it is enshrined in the Constitution that Congress has sole prerogative in tackling franchises in the Philippines. This is one of the reasons why we are having closed-door meetings. We don’t want to our decisions to be biased in the end,” dagdag pa nito.
