By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Pirma Kapamilya, the signature campaign seeking citizen support to provide a fresh legislative franchise to embattled ABS-CBN Network, quietly commenced in Iloilo City on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020.
It was initiated in Iloilo City by the Ilonggo Movement Against Terror Act, a group composed of the Liberal Party-Magayon Iloilo Chapter, Sentro, Partido ng Manggagawa, Akbayan Party-list and Partido Magdalo.
They set up a Pirma center in front of the ABS-CBN Broadcast Center in La Paz district.
This move is based on Section 32 of Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, which allows the people to directly propose and enact laws by at least 10 percent of the total number of registered voters in the country, where each legislative district is represented by at least 3 percent of its registered voters.
The procedure to conduct this People’s Initiative is prescribed in Republic Act No. 6735 (Initiative and Referendum Act of 1989).
Based on data by the Commission on Elections on the 2019 national and local elections, Iloilo City has had 294,776 registered voters.
The organizers of the campaign in the city would need 8,844 signatures from registered voters in Iloilo City to be able to achieve their purpose.
Mr. Gerard Peñaranda, one of the convenors of Pirma Kapamilya in Iloilo City, told Daily Guardian via text that the local campaign aims to collect 15,000 signatures.
To recall, 70 members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Legislative Franchises denied on July 10, 2020 a fresh legislative franchise for ABS-CBN, effectively shutting down the network on terrestrial television and radio.
Three Ilonggo representatives voted in favor of the denial, Julienne Baronda (Iloilo City Lone), Janette Garin (Iloilo province 1st), and Sharon Garin (AAMBIS-OWA) partylist.
The National Telecommunications Commission on May 5 issued a cease-and-desist order against the network, after its franchise via Republic Act No. 7966 expired the day before.
ABS-CBN continues to operate through its cable Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live on YouTube and Facebook, and the newly-minted A2Z Channel 11, in partnership with ZOE TV.
In a press statement on Wednesday, Peñaranda called the franchise denial a “political move”.
He alluded to President Rodrigo Duterte’s threats against the network on multiple occasions since assuming the presidency in 2016.
“ABS-CBN’s franchise was defeated in the house by a handful of politicians that usually do not represent the people’s interest but the will of their principal in Malacañang who has a grudge with the network. Now it’s time that the people themselves, Ilonggos included, directly voice their interests through a People’s Initative”, Peñaranda said in a press statement.
In the same press statement, local labor leader Mario Andon lamented that workers’ interests was thrown in the dumps when ABS-CBN’s franchise was denied as over 11,000 workers lost their jobs.
The closure affected 58 workers in ABS-CBN Iloilo.
“The shutting down of ABS-CBN was not just a blow to press freedom but also to workers’ rights and livelihood. We saw this when the regional broadcast center here in Iloilo City stopped its operation. Almost all of their workers and familiar faces on TV and radio lost their jobs,” Andon said.
According to Andon, the denial of the franchise was not the solution to address the labor violations committed by the network.
In fact, the denial of the franchise prevented the opportunity to institute pro-workers’ provisions like ending contractualization, ensuring worker’s rights, and guaranteeing workers’ representation in the network’s policy and decision making.
Peñaranda said all volunteers of the initiative do not have a solid timetable but would hope to garner 7 million signatures of registered voters before the 2022 national and local elections.
The group is also planning to hold a signature campaign in Passi City in the future.
