Updated
By Ellson Quismorio
Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman criticized on Sunday (May 17) the House leadership’s supposed refusal to reconsider their passage last week of a measure granting ABS-CBN a provisional franchise to broadcast until October 31, 2020.
Lagman, an independent in the 302-strong House of Representatives, insisted that House Bill (HB) No. 6732’s approval on first and second reading on the same day was unconstitutional.
(KJ ROSALES / MANILA BULLETIN)
“Intransigence by the House leadership to correct a constitutional aberration is never the hallmark of commendable stewardship and good legislation,” the lawyer-solon said.
“Exigency or even good motives cannot excuse or validate the repetition of an unconstitutional act or procedure,” the Liberal Party stalwart added.
The House acting as a committee of the whole, passed HB 6732 last Wednesday (May 13) or first and second reading. The bill is expected to hurdle third reading when solons return to session Monday (May 18), which also fulfills a requirement for a three-day interval between second and third reading passage for bills not certified by Malacañang as urgent.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano authored the measure to give lawmakers enough time to hear the application for renewal of the TV and radio giant’s operating franchise. The previous 25-year franchise of ABS-CBN, which employs 11,000 people, expired last May 4.
“No amount of purported or actual passage of some bills in the past on first and second readings on the same day will constitute an unassailable precedent in violation of the Constitution,” Lagman also said.
Deputy Speaker and Mandaluyong City lone district Rep. Neptali Gonzales II had earlier defended the plenary action on HB 6732 after another LP solon, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, raised the issue of its alleged constitutional infirmity.
“The first and second reading may be done on separate days or on the same day, depending on the decision of the plenary, without violating the Constitution for as long as the third reading will be three days after distribution of printed copies [of the bill],” said Gonzales, who is a former chairman of the committee on rules.
“I think what the Constitution requires is that the first, second, and third reading must be done on separate days. It does not require three separate days,” he argued.
But Lagman said Sec. 26(2) of Article VI of the 1987 Charter unequivocally provides that no bill “shall become a law unless it has passed three (3) readings on separate days,” unless the “President certifies to the necessity of its immediate enactment to meet a public calamity or emergency.”
He noted that the provisional franchise bill has not been certified as urgent by President Duterte. Once the House is done with it, the measure still has to go through the Senate and then get enacted via the chief executive’s signature.
Due process
Another deputy speaker, Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte, highlighted in an ANC interview over the weekend that there are only 12 session days left before the 18th Congress ends its first regular session on June 5.
Villafuerte said House members won’t have enough time to tackle ABS-CBN’s renewal application until the sine die adjournment given the multi-faceted issues of the network that need to be taken up thoroughly, and the need for legislators to devote their time over the next two weeks for pending measures crucial to the country’s survival amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
At any rate, he said that due process will be observed in the franchise renewal hearings once they begin in earnest.
“I would like to assure everyone that we will follow due process. We will, as much as possible, hear everybody’s side,” Villafuerte said in the same interview.
He said it will take time for the House to take up ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal because of the numerous issues involved, including those related to alleged constitutional violations, tax deficiencies, and foreign ownership.
But in the interest of fair play, he said the network will also be given time to answer the allegations.
“What is important at this point is that ABS-CBN and other sectors should be given due process. Kung ma-convince ang members ng Congress na pwede nang desisyunan iyan, dedesisyunan na iyan,” Villafuerte said.
(If members of Congress can be convinced that a decision can be rendered, they shall make the decision.)
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Lagman hits 'intransigent' House leadership for refusing to correct 'unconstitutional' passage of ABS-CBN bill - Manila Bulletin
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