MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros did not give Commission on Audit chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba an easy time during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday as the opposition lawmaker raised his involvement in the shutdown of ABS-CBN that left thousands jobless and millions without access to information.
Hontiveros grilled Cordoba over his broken promise to the House of Representatives’ legislative franchises panel that the National Telecommunications Commission, which he headed at that time, will issue ABS-CBN a provisional license to continue broadcasting pending a fresh franchise from Congress.
“How can you be trusted by the public and how can we trust in your integrity as COA chair if you violated a commitment that you gave under oath?” Hontiveros asked Cordoba.
Cordoba said he made that commitment following a legal opinion from the Department of Justice allowing the granting of a provisional license, but the NTC had to study the matter further when the Office of the Solicitor General filed a quo warranto petition against ABS-CBN before the Supreme Court and threatened legal action against NTC commissioners.
“Actually the letter did not scare us. What the letter did to us and the quo warranto case did to us was to make us pause,” Cordoba said.
Unsatisfied, Hontiveros continued to pound Cordoba with questions, repeatedly raising issues of press freedom, job losses and the loss of a source of entertainment and information.
Hontiveros only paused when she was accused by Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (Sagip party-list), one of the leading figures in the shutdown of ABS-CBN, of “belaboring this issue.”
“[This is] hardly belaboring because this has something to do with the trust that the public will place on the COA chair based on his track record as chairperson of another commission,” Hontiveros said in reply.
A tense exchange followed between Hontiveros and Marcoleta, who again rehashed supposed violations of ABS-CBN that were already cleared by various government agencies.
Hontiveros proceeded to answer Marcoleta’s arguments point by point, particularly his assertion that the shuttering of ABS-CBN is not about press freedom.
“Of course it is about press freedom! Because a broadcasting company is asking for the renewal of its franchise. Because aside from this broadcasting company, millions of their viewers had pinned their hopes on what the NTC chair said, that they could be given a provisional franchise like three other broadcasting companies — GMA-7, TV5 and Subic Broadcasting,” she said.
In the end, Hontiveros asked Cordoba one final question: “Will you allow you or your office, which is a constitutional commission no less, to be pressured again by another government official or entity even if this is against the mandate of your office?”
Cordoba answered, “We will not allow that to happen, Madam Chair.”
The CA panel deliberating on Cordoba’s appointment suspended its proceedings as Hontiveros and other lawmakers still wanted to ask more questions.