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 Aides to President Rodrigo
Duterte sought to distance him from Tuesday's
move against ABS-CBN Corp, insisting his office
was as surprised as anyone and the mercurial
leader no longer had an axe to grind with the
station, despite past grievances.
Celebrities, entertainers and fans expressed
sorrow on social media and labour, business and
media groups urged intervention to spare
thousands of jobs, protect free speech and
guarantee access to vital public information
amid the coronavirus epidemic.
The National Telecommunications Commission's (NTC)
decision has puzzled many lawmakers and
commentators, prompting allegations by Duterte's
critics that his allies are exploiting a strict
lockdown and trying to intimidate the media
using legal and regulatory processes.
ABS-CBN had no comment on Wednesday about what
its next move would be. Trading of its shares
was suspended on Wednesday and its main rival
GMA Network Inc surged to a one-year high,
closing up 23.7% having spiked 50% during
trading.
ABS-CBN, a 66-year-old entertainment and media
conglomerate, employs nearly 7,000 people,
operates 21 radio and 38 television stations
nationwide and distributes online content.
It shut down most of its radio and TV stations
on Tuesday just before 8 p.m., leaving only a
few channels with separate licences operating.
The NTC had in March indicated that ABS-CBN
could remain on air pending its licence renewal
by the lower house of Congress, which only
returned from recess on Monday and has been
criticised for dragging its heels on the
renewal.
There was no indication why the regulator
changed its stance, but the office of the
solicitor-general said it had cautioned the NTC
against allowing ABS to broadcast without a
licence. The NTC said on Wednesday it stood by
its decision and that ABS-CBN could seek a
temporary restraining order from a court
Rufus Rodriguez, a pro-Duterte congressman, said
it was pointless asking the NTC to change its
mind.
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 "We can't depend on the NTC
anymore. We have to make sure in this one month
we are in session, we can give a provisional
franchise," said Rodriguez, who filed a
resolution on Wednesday to get ABS-CBN an
interim licence. Senate
President Vicente Sotto said that if the lower
house failed to do that, his chamber could get
the job done.
"Bring it to the Senate, we will approve it!,"
he said on Twitter.
ABS-CBN has been on tenterhooks for several
years because of Duterte's repeated threats to
thwart its renewal bid, his anger stemming from
its failure to air some of his paid election
campaign commercials, for which it recently
apologised. ABS-CBN shares have
lost more than half their value during Duterte's
presidency, which began in 2016.
Duterte's legal counsel Salvador Panelo said
anyone accusing him of involvement was "barking
up the wrong tree" because Duterte had forgiven
ABS-CBN.
His spokesman, Harry Roque, said the president
wanted his supporters in Congress to know that
he would not be upset if they backed ABS-CBN's
licence renewal.
"He kept on reiterating in our conversation that
he is neutral and to let his allies know that
her will not hold it against them," Roque said.
 Both were speaking on ANC, the cable news
channel of ABS-CBN, which operates under a
separate licence.
The hashtag #notoabscbnshutdown attracted more
than 17,000 posts on Instagram by Wednesday
afternoon and 10,000 posts on Twitter under #abscbnsigningoff,
trending third behind news on American and
Korean celebrities.
(Writing and additional reporting by Martin
Petty; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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