The Palace notes that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has issued a Cease and Desist Order against ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation for lack of a valid legislative franchise. ABS-CBN is free to exhaust all legal remedies available to it.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, as a matter of record, accepted the apology of the network and left its fate to both houses of Congress. Let the public be informed that broadcast franchises are within the authority of Congress. It has discretion on what to do with the legislative franchise of ABS-CBN and other broadcasting companies similarly situated.

We thank the network for its services to the Filipino nation and people especially in this time of COVID-19. But in the absence of a legislative franchise, as we have earlier said, ABS-CBN’s continued operation is entirely the NTC’s decision.