Charles Teves
President Rodrigo Duterte cannot stop talking about ABS-CBN.
Last Friday during the joint meeting of national and regional task forces to end the local communist armed conflict (ELCAC) in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Duterte said the Network doesn’t deserve a granting of a fresh congressional franchise.
“Now they don’t have a contract so they’re renegotiating. But don’t give me a piece of garbage, son of a bitch. That’s how they are,” he said in a local dialect.
He found it unacceptable why ABS-CBN sold its assets to Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) at a ‘higher price’.
“After which, they sold all their assets to the DBP. All of it – lock, stock, and barrel. They resumed business and when their business was doing well, they bought back their assets at a cheap price and sold it for a higher price.
“I said, ‘Ah, son of a bitch.’ ABS-CBN? I’ll shut you down,” he said.
The DBP last month denied that it has written off PHP1.6 billion in loans to Lopez-owned or affiliated companies that became sour due to the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
The Lopez companies benefited from loans which were included in the PHP9.55 billion in non-performing loans (NPLs) and non-performing assets (NPAs) that the DBP sold to special purpose vehicles or financial firms that take in bad bank loans.
It was only last month that Duterte promised to block the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) from granting ABS-CBN a permit to operate until tax issues have been settled.
ABS-CBN as a whole has been considered by the BIR as a good taxpayer.
In the same speech, Duterte noted how ABS-CBN immediately regained control of the Network right after dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted as President because of Cory Aquino.
However, ABS-CBN has previously disputed this claim.
“Hindi sinauli sa amin ng Marcos ang istasyon, nakuha namin sa aming sariling sikap kasama ‘yung forces ni Enrile at Ramos,” said Almeda-Lopez in front of lawmakers in the seventh legislative hearing for ABS-CBN’s franchise application.
“We went into arbitration because [of] the desire of both parties – the Malacañang group and the Lopez group – that let us present this to a neutral body and let them be the one to resolve this problem.”
