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| Sen. Grace Poe and Sol Gen Jose Calida / photos from Google |
Senator Grace Poe, chair of
Senate public committee has invited Solicitor General Jose Calida to the
hearing of ABS CBN’s franchise renewal on Monday, February 24, 2020.
According to Poe, Calida’s
presence is important since he filed the quo warranto petition against the
media giant before the Supreme Court which seeks to revoke the existing franchise
of the network.
“We would like our hearings
to remain balanced so we want to get the opinion of both sides,” she said
However, Poe, said Calida
has not confirmed yet his attendance to the hearing this Monday.
Calida claimed that ABS CBN violated
the terms of its franchise by allegedly allowing foreigners to control the
company by issuing Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs).
Also, the Kapamilya network
allegedly offered a pay-per-view service without authority from the government.
Earlier, Calida has asked
the Supreme Court to issue a gag order to stop ABS CBN and its representatives from
discussing the quo warranto case.
The solicitor general
brought the “very urgent request” to the high court to ban "parties and
persons acting on their behalf" from releasing any statements related to
the petition as this would violate the sub judice rule, which prohibits
anyone from publicly assessing an ongoing case to avoid pre-judgment.
"Verily, inasmuch as
ABS-CBN unquestionably directed its statements on the merits of the quo
warranto case to influence the public and members of this Honorable Court, this
Honorable Court must issue an order prohibiting the parties and persons acting
on their behalf from releasing any statements discussing the merits of the
subject petition," the Solicitor General said in his plea.
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