Vilma Santos, ready to face consequences over ABS-CBN renewal vote

• She said that she was thinking that it’ll have more balance since the network has proven their innocence against allegations.
• Santos added that she’s ready to face any consequence after her vote in favor of a fresh franchise for ABS-CBN.

With a 70-11 vote in favor of the non-renewal of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation’s franchise, Deputy Speaker Batangas 6th District Representative Vilma Santos admitted she was surprised with how it turned out.

She stated that the network answered the allegations against it and proved themselves during the several hearings on the matter so they were not expecting such a big gap.

“We’re not expecting malaking malaki…We were expecting na a more comfortable number kasi inisip namin dun sa mga pagdinig na ginawa ay nasagot naman ng ABS-CBN yung mga binato sa kanilang questions. Nasagot nila ng tama at may batayan,” she said.

Santos added that even government agencies stated that ABS-CBN did not violate any law.

“In fact, alam naman natin na sinabi ng national government agencies…na pinatunayan na wala naman nilabag na batas ang ABS-CBN. So ako personally, umasa na kahit papaano, may balanse na sanang mangyayari sa kanilang magiging desisyon sa pagboto.”

The representative then said that she is ready to face any consequences of her vote favoring the network’s franchise renewal.

70 members of the House legislative franchise committee voted to deny ABS-CBN a fresh 25-year franchise while the congresswoman was among the 11 who opposed the denial.

She then cited a previous experience wherein she lost a committee chairmanship because she voted against the death penalty in 2017.

“It happened to me already when I voted ‘no’ do’n sa death penalty…sinabi nila na kailangan masuportahan yung major bill na ‘yun, ‘yung death penalty. I stood my ground and I voted ‘no’ so I lost my chairmanship,” she pointed out.

“Pero kung ano man yung naging desisyon ko ngayon dito sa renewal ng franchise ng ABS-CBN at magkakaroon ulit ng ganong consequences, I think I’m prepared for that so tanggapin natin ‘yun.”

Before the mentioned voting, the committee held 13 hearings to tackle various issues thrown towards ABS-CBN. It includes the citizenship of its chairman emeritus Gabby Lopez, alleged labor violations, tax evasion, and alleged political bias.