Senators file bill to provide ‘provisional franchise’ for ABS-CBN valid till June 2022

Several Philippine senators have initiated and filed a bill that would provide ABS-CBN with a provisional license valid up to June 2022 as the Congress discusses the possibility of providing the media giant another 25-year license.

Senate Bill No. 1521 states that the bill will not only provide Congress more time to deliberate the franchise, but more importantly, it stated that the bill “would save thousands of direct and indirect jobs dependent on ABS-CBN in a time of great unease and economic contraction,” according to the bill’s explanatory note.

Here are the Senators who authored the bill:

• Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto
• Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri 
• Minority Leader Franklin Drilon
• Sen. Sonny Angara
• Sen. Nancy Binay
• Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian
• Sen. Richard Gordon
• Sen. Risa Hontiveros
• Sen. Lito Lapid
• Sen. Manny Pacquiao 
• Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan
• Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr.
• Sen. Joel Villanueva

The bill furthered that the non-renewal will affect thousands of jobs citing that the network has over 11,017 which include (but not limited to) artists, independent contracts, suppliers, and content creators all employed within ABS-CBN’s group of companies.

“The cessation of its operations would [also] imperil the Philippine advertising industry who has historically invested up to 75 percent of its P151 billion business into TV,” said the bill.

It also noted that ABS-CBN has provided up to Php70.5 billion in taxes from 2003 to 2020.

ABS-CBN stopped broadcasting early May as its 25-year franchise has already expired. The media giant, however, has since continued its broadcast online through the internet and various social media channels.