Yesterday, May 5, broadcasting corporation ABS-CBN was prompted to stop broadcasting across its TV and radio channels right after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued a cease-and-desist order denying the company provisional authority to operate while its franchise renewal remains pending in Congress—it’s current franchise expired May 4.
The order comes despite the sworn statement by the NTC through Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba saying that “they will follow the advice of the Department of Justice, allowing ABS-CBN to operate while its franchise renewal bid is pending in Congress,” in response to House of Representatives’ committee on legislative franchises’ letter.
[READ: Is the ABS-CBN shutdown unconstitutional?]Moreover, the abrupt turn of events caused public uproar for reasons considering the company’s 11,000 workers possibly facing unemployment, the cutting off of reliable and timely information during the pandemic and ultimately, its apparent threat to freedom of the press with the loss of one country’s major broadcasting networks.
[READ: OPINION: The ABS-CBN shutdown is a call for citizen journalism]Up until now multiple discussions and debates over the issue are ongoing online along with people calling for the defense of press freedom and standing by the company with the hashtags #NoToABSCBNShutDown and #IStandWithABSCBN.
While this act has proved to be effective in putting a lot of people and issues in check, especially with the pandemic limiting in-person meetings, there is a more direct way of reaching NTC, the primary agency behind the shutdown, and letting them know of their compromising actions.
Here’s how you can file a direct complaint to the NTC to extend your support to ABS-CBN:
- Click this link which goes to NTC’s complaint page
- Provide your name, phone number and email address
- Copy the message below and paste in the message box
“Objection to your cease-and-desist order towards ABS-CBN, which goes against your commitment to uphold (last March 2020) the STATUS QUO order of Congress; and your previous practice of issuing temporary restraining permits to ongoing franchise deliberations. Your course of action goes contrary to the just and equitable interpretation of the law.”
- Click SEND
Besides the ever-growing impact of taking to social media to voice out our concerns, this form of a collective complaint that will directly go through NTC’s servers and, of course, the people working behind the NTC, will let them know just how many of us are aware of their deliberate backtracking from their sworn statement—and by that fact should put their actions in check.
As Scout puts forward: “We might as well focus on what we could do about it all. Will this finally be the spark that ignites the much-needed revolution, or are we just going to sit on our asses through all of this again, waiting for something worse to happen? Only we can answer that.”
Header photo courtesy of Inquirer.net
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