News Roundup 07 May 2020
May 07, 2020 • 3 min Read
ABS-CBN seeks Supreme Court injunction on NTC cease and desist order | PHILSTAR.COM – ABS-CBN Corp. ran to the Supreme Court on Thursday to set aside the National Telecommunications Commission’s cease and desist order against the network. ABS-CBN News reported that their broadcast company filed a Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition assailing the NTC’s order before the SC on Thursday. ABS-CBN also reported that the network asked the SC to issue a permanent injunction against the NTC’s order, as the regulatory body committed grave abuse of discretion when it ordered the network to stop broadcasting after its franchise expired. The closure of ABS-CBN comes at a time when the Philippines and the rest of the world are grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives globally.
Network shutdown sparks blame game | INQUIRER.NET – A group of economic reform advocates on Wednesday denounced what it called the “arbitrary cease-and-desist” order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against television network ABS-CBN, which was forced to sign off on Tuesday, a day after its 25-year congressional franchise had lapsed. “Such politically motivated action undermines the whole-of-society effort to beat COVID-19,” the Action for Economic Reforms (AER) said in a statement. The AER, which supported fiscal reform programs of the current and previous administrations, is composed largely of economists and development specialists. It had strongly lobbied for the passage of the sin tax law and the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, both of which were credited for strengthening the country’s fiscal position, including future resources to pay for any pandemic-related borrowing.
Bishops lament ABS-CBN shutdown during health crisis | Manila Bulletin – A Catholic prelate said the cease and desist order of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against television network ABS CBN is “very unbecoming and traitorous to the people” especially since it was done during a national health emergency. “In a time of unprecedented crisis as this one, we need all the help there is rather than tear each other down,” Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila, said in a statement. “ABS CBN has been helping a lot of Filipinos in the country and abroad in (giving them) updated information about the corona virus, in entertaining the people in the time of lock down, and in uplifting the spirits of many through its broadcasts,” he added.
ECQ could be lifted in some Metro cities – Año | The Manila Times – Some cities in Metro Manila could be placed under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) next week, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said on Thursday. He said the enhanced community quarantine could be lifted in cities where cases of the Coronavirus disease had gone down. These cities include San Juan and Valenzuela. “There are cities in Manila that may be ready for a GCQ,” Año said in a television interview. However, he pointed out that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) has one week to make a decision on the matter.
