MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court will take up again the ABS-CBN's petition on July 13, amid the embattled media giant's admission of looming job losses due to the shutdown.
Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta said in CJ Meets the Press on Thursday that the petition against the National Telecommunications Commission’s cease and desist order filed by ABS-CBN “is scheduled for another discussion on July 13.”
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The set deliberations would also include the media giant’s plea for immediate relief by way of a temporary restraining order. This was contained in ABS-CBN's plea filed on May 7.
“Because we waited for comments of the House of Representatives, the lower House and the upper House (Senate) and I think we only received the comments last Monday or last Friday, but the member-in-charge asked for July 13 deliberation,” Peralta explained.
The chief justice also refused to divulge the court’s considerations or difficulties on resolving an urgent TRO plea.
ABS-CBN is operating on a theory that they can resume airing if the SC issues a temporary restraining order against the implementation of NTC’s CDO.
In reiterating their plea, the embattled media giant said that for each day they are off air, they lose about P30 million to P35 million, mainly in revenues from advertising.
ABS-CBN CEO Carlo Katigbak earlier said in a Senate hearing that the company may have to start laying off some of its 11,000 staff by August if it can’t resume its free channel broadcast operations soon.
House deliberations on franchise bills
Meanwhile, deliberations on ABS-CBN’s franchise bills continue at the House of Representatives, with a fifth hearing set on Thursday afternoon.
The House’s Committees on Legislative Franchise and Good Government and Public Accountability spent the past hearings discussing the nationality of ABS-CBN Chairman Emeritus Gabby Lopez, whose dual citizenship is allowed by law.
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The House panels also moved to discuss ABS-CBN Holdings issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts to foreign investors.
House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano previously said that the House may decide on ABS-CBN’s franchise by August.