Palace: Duterte not behind OSG case vs ABS-CBN

MANILA, Philippines — While President Duterte has vowed to ensure that broadcast giant ABS-CBN would be “out,” Malacañang claimed the Chief Executive has no hand in the reported plan of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to seek the revocation of the television network’s franchise. 

A newspaper report has quoted an unnamed source as saying that government lawyers would file a quo warranto petition asking the Supreme Court to revoke the franchise of the Lopez-owned network. 

The OSG would cite ABS-CBN’s supposed violations of the terms and conditions of its legislative franchise in its petition, the report said. 

The franchise of ABS-CBN, which has been accused by Duterte of swindling and biased reporting, is set to expire in March. 

But Malacañang claimed the reported plan of the OSG to seek the revocation of ABS-CBN’s franchise has nothing to do with Duterte’s threat that he would block the renewal of the network’s franchise. 

“Not really. You must remember that the job of the SolGen is to file the appropriate petitions when he sees or feels that there’s a transgression of franchises or any law for that matter,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a press briefing yesterday. 

Panelo said press freedom cannot be invoked when the law is violated. He also claimed that the OSG can move even without orders from the President because part of its job is to file petitions when it sees violations of the law.