A classic case of ‘moro-moro’

“Moro-moro“ was mentioned last Tuesday evening when lawmakers and private citizens alike expressed their separate minds in the TV Patrol news programming of ABS-CBN last Tuesday evening. I believe that the personalities were randomly called. This was obvious the moment the exchange of thoughts began. Whoever was available was asked his opinion. The unscheduled interviews came after the National Telecommunications Commission issued a Cease And Desist Order against the broadcast giant. The NTC ordered the Alto Broadcasting System-Chronicle Broadcasting Network to stop operation. In the following flux of mixed views, “moro-moro” was uttered. I think it was Representative Edcel Lagman who used the analogy. In order to understand better what the congressman meant, I tried researching for its meaning. The internet defined it as “a situation being played from a given script”.

It is important for me to surmise what then is the situation, if only to approximate the gut of the above given definition. My conjecture, to be capable of reasonable evaluation, is anchored on facts that I believe are publicly known. Let me start with a statement attributed to President Rodrigo Duterte. It has missed me now if he said it in a private conversation or in a public forum. What I do recall was his sentiment against ABS-CBN for the latter’s alleged breach of contract.  Because the president believed that an injustice was committed against him, he would not want that the franchise of the broadcast company be renewed or words to that effect. To emphasize his message, the president even suggested to the owners of the broadcast company to sell to other parties.

We have learned that there is an application for the renewal of franchise filed by ABS-CBN thru a Luzonian legislator with the House of Representatives. The company has been asking for a fresh franchise considering that the last grant of this privilege was to expire on May 4, 2020. The lawmaker from Albay cited the law during the interview that without a legislative franchise ABS-CBN could no longer operate. The continued broadcasting by the radio-TV giant therefore depends solely upon the approval of its renewal application by congress. It is quite clear that the life of ABS-CBN rests entirely on the hands of Congress. This is the situation.

This application which is for another twenty five year period has been pending since late 2016. Soon after its filing, President Duterte, in an expletive laden speech, attacked the ABS-CBN and a national daily. When he ended his elocution in such a vituperative manner, he, in effect, gave an order to his minions in the House of Representatives, to block the franchise renewal application. If the lower chamber refused to calendar the bill, that to me was in obedience to the unwritten presidential directive.

Last week, the speaker of the house opined that the NTC should issue a provisional authority to ABS-CBN. Actually, he wanted to impress upon us that he was in favor of the continued operation of the beleaguered company. In truth, this was the script for public consumption. He knew that in our system of government, a franchise is the law giving the authority to a company to broadcast. Without it, there is nothing that an administrative body like the NTC can execute or implement. In other words, the speaker knew (as he knows) that the only power that the NTC could exercise was to order the cessation of the operation of ABS-CBN. The declaration of the speaker was what Lagman called as “moro-moro”.