Senator Panfilo Lacson admitted his mistake in understanding the Quo Warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida against television network giant ABS-CBN.
On his Twitter post, Lacson said that he ‘misinterpreted’ the said quo warranto petition, saying that he thought that they filed it to prevent the Congress from doing their job in renewing the franchise of ABS-CBN.
However, he later realized that if the Supreme Court revoke the franchise of ABS-CBN, Congress has nothing to renew anymore.
“My bad. I misinterpreted Solgen’s ‘quo warranto’ petition to mean preventing Congress from acting on pending bills to renew the ABS-CBN 25-yr old franchise instead of revoking the same. If SC revokes, Congress has nothing to renew. It’s all up to the Supreme Court. Sorry,” said Lacson.
My bad. I misinterpreted Solgen’s 'quo warranto' petition to mean preventing Congress from acting on pending bills to renew the ABS-CBN 25-yr old franchise instead of revoking the same. If SC revokes, Congress has nothing to renew. It’s all up to the Supreme Court. Sorry.
— PING LACSON (@iampinglacson) January 20, 2020
Yesterday, Lacson reminded President Rodrigo Duterte that the Congress has the right to decide about the fate of ABS-CBN’s franchise.
He also called the Quo Warranto petition filed by Calida as unnecessary.
“Ang renewal ng franchise, ayon sa Constitution, nasa Kongreso yan. Kami ang magde-deliberate, at ang mag-a-approve niyan, Pangulo,” Lacson said.
“I think parang superfluous ang mag-quo warranto pa para pigilan ang pag-renew ng franchise, kasi power ng Congress ‘yan… Kami ang dapat masusunod kung mare-renew ba ng another 25 years ang media outfit…So I think medyo duplicitous ang move para pigilan, kasi hindi talaga kayang pigilan ang Kongreso,” he added.
He also mentioned a possible constitutional crisis if the Supreme Court grants the Quo Warranto petition.
“Baka magkaroon tayo ng constitutional crisis. Kasi halimbawa, kung mag-grant ang SC ng quo warranto at kasalukuyang nagsasagawa kami ng plenary deliberation sa renewal ng franchise ng ABS-CBN, ano ang mananaig doon? Of course sabi nila, pag sinabi ng SC ganito, it becomes part of the law of the land, pero Constitution itong pinag-uusapan natin. ‘Di pwedeng sabihin ng SC na unconstitutional ang ginagawang deliberation ng Congress sa pag-renew ng franchise kasi maliwanag sa Constitution na sa amin ‘yan,” he said.
The franchise of ABS-CBN is set to expire in March this year.