Name: Rex John R.

Aspuria Gr&Sec: 12 STEM – A

One of the hottest issues that our country faced last year was the ABS CBN shutdown. You
could see different articles circulating in social media platforms discussing different parts and
angles of the story when it comes to the franchise renewal. During those times as you watch
television at night it was the most tackled matter but then for me to be honest I really don’t know
the whole story of this issue. I need to read and weigh different factors considering press
freedom, President Duterte, the Lopezes, violations and the franchise renewal process because
I don’t want to be one sided only. I don’t want to be biased for only looking at one angle of the
issue but let’s now focus more on the issue between President Duterte and the ABS-CBN.

First let’s go back to what had happened before. Pres. Rodrigo Duterte lashed out a media
giant ABS CBN in the first 5 minutes of his SONA way back July 27, 2020. He reiterated his
years-long tirades against the embattled network and its owners, the Lopez Family. One
statement that he said was “Media is a powerful tool in the hands of oligarchs like the Lopezes
who use it in their battle with political figures. I am a casualty of the Lopezes during the 2016
elections,” Reading this made me realized that there’s something going on between President
Duterte and the ABS-CBN because our president would not mention them if there were no
issues. It had something to do also with political issues. Based on the statement above it
indicated that he was a casualty during the 2016 elections. According to De Jesus where he
explained that in the beginning, it was all about President Duterte’s animosity toward ABS-CBN
for failing to air his political advertisements during the 2016 general elections and his gripes
against the oligarchs. On the other hand, Duterte's longtime assistant and current Senator Bong
Go also has admitted that personal feelings have been a major driver of Duterte's invective.
"The grievances of the president against ABS-CBN are not shallow. He was hurt and felt
violated," Go said earlier this year, referring to ABS-CBN's decision to air negative political ads
against Duterte during the 2016 elections. "If you are mean to the president, he will be meaner
to you. If you are nice to the president, then he will be nicer to you." Looking upon this, I really
understand where Duterte’s coming from. If I were him I would be hurt and disappointed
because it shows that they’re against him and also especially with the money you invested with,
just for you to air something during elections but they didn’t air it. It could really affect your race
in the presidential position.

After becoming president, Duterte already threatened to take the channel off air several
times. "Your franchise will end next year. If you expect it to be renewed, I'm sorry. I will see to it
that you're out," Duterte said in December 2019. Duterte was really into his personal feelings
where it drove him to say such things. Why did they have to do this and that’s what is running
through his head based from how I perceive his words and actions. If they are mean to him then
he will be meaner to them and that is his principle. That is what the president believes in but he
is known also for his words that do not meant to be like that especially if you heard some of his
jokes and statements drove by his emotions. But during February last year, President Rodrigo
Duterte has accepted the apology of broadcast giant ABS-CBN for airing a smear ad against
him by opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. ABS-CBN President and CEO Carlo Katigbak
publicly apologized to Duterte during the first congressional hearing on their franchise at the
Senate, over the airing of the advertisement which questioned if a tough-talking, cursing
politician would be a good fit for president. This is what Katigbak stated "We are sorry if we
offended the President. That was not the intention of the network. We felt that we were just
abiding by regulations that surround the airing of political ads.” It was a nice gesture to sincerely
apologize to the President but I think it’s already too late. They should have realized it earlier
because it’s about few years ago already. Let’s just accept the fact that ABS-CBN made
mistakes. “Nandiyan na eh. I accept the apology, of course,” Duterte told reporters at
Malacañang. But Duterte said ABS-CBN should just donate the remaining ₱2.6-million the
network owes him for its failure to air his political advertisements during the 2016 election.
Imagine that they owe him with that big amount of money. If that was the case they should
atleast give back his money few years ago.

Another thing is that Duterte and his supporters have long accused ABS-CBN, which is
owned by the prominent Lopez family, of unfair coverage, liberal bias, tax evasion and even
"swindling." Others have accused the network of creative accounting and undue exploitation of
tax breaks. When it comes to coverage especially news articles and headlines you could really
notice a little difference compared to other network’s news coverage and articles. There’s some
sort of being biased and unfair. I believe that if you are a competitive network, you should be
unbiased and fair to all the things being put out or broadcasted especially when it comes to
political issues.

For me we should not solely blame Duterte for the rejection of franchise renewal because
this agenda went through different processes, hearings and talked-about violations. The
decision was not made by our President (may be there’s an influence brought by him to the last
decision) but with the committees and through votes. The issue between Duterte and the
network was not the main factor why ABS CBN faced shutdown if you’re gonna look at all
aspects and angles. Hence, we should not focus only to this aspect of the issue but to the whole
picture.