A former palace official believes that the passing of the bill for the revocation of SMNI’s franchise was hastily done in the house.
Despite this, the battle for the network is not yet over.
“So, the conflict is not yet over,” Atty. Salvador Panelo, Former Chief Presidential Counsel, said.
This was the remark of Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo after the house recently passed on third and final reading the bill for the revocation of the franchise of Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI).
Panelo said, that although the said bill has been passed in the house, it still needs to be discussed in the Senate and then sent to the Office of the President for signing to become a full-fledged law.
Meanwhile, Sen. Grace Poe, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Service, stated that discussing the franchise bill is not a priority in the Senate at the moment.
Poe further added that since this is the first time such a situation of revoking a media network’s franchise has occurred, it needs to be thoroughly studied and investigated.
But Panelo believes that the said bill was hastily pushed through in the house.
“They really railroaded it. They just trampled the defenseless. That’s the truth there,” Atty. Panelo stated.
To recall, the House Committee began investigating SMNI last November after two anchors from the station questioned the alleged P1.8-B travel expenses of House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Atty. Panelo criticizes ‘wrong’ comparison between SMNI, ABS-CBN franchises
Meanwhile, Panelo clarified comparisons made between the cases of ABS-CBN and SMNI.
“Let me correct. I don’t understand these reporters. They’re comparing the revocation issue with ABS-CBN‘s case. There was no revocation of ABS-CBN franchise at that time. They were not allowed to renew because, during the time they were operating, it was discovered that they had many violations,” Panelo added.
