OVER a hundred executives, journalists and other media workers of ABS-CBN in northern Mindanao and its Cagayan de Oro-based radio station are faced with uncertainty as the TV network signed off last night following a cease-and-desist order by the government.
The 102 media executives and workers are among the over 11 thousand people who stand to lose their jobs as a result of the order from the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC).
Here, ABS-CBN-Northern Mindanao and its FM station MOR 91.9 have simultaneously stopped airing.
A worker at ABS-CBN-Northern Mindanao said the 102 workers under the station in Bulua may not be displaced yet but all of them are facing uncertainties.
“Wala pa man displacement. Ang instruction sa amo to still gather stories for online platform and ANC… Apil FB page sa programs,” said the worker who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on behalf of the regional station.
This paper pressed ABS-CBN-Northern Mindanao station manager May Lynn Cainhog for comment but she declined.
“Magbalibad lang sa ko as official statements from management were already issued po… We’re not yet allowed to further comment on the matter,” reads Cainhog’s text message to this paper.
The NTC ordered ABS-CBN to stop operating its TV and radio stations nationwide in the absence of a valid congressional franchise as required by law. It was given 10 days from receipt of the order to state its position on why the frequencies assigned to it by the government should not be recalled.
The Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC), the city’s premier organization of news media workers, joined over a dozen other groups in decrying the NTC move against ABS-CBN.
COPC condemned the shutdown order, calling it “ill-timed” and “not in accord with their (NTC’s) own memorandum as to operations of media entities.”
“It is not only insensitive but outright anomalous. We condemn this kind of act from a regulatory body as this will a send (a) wrong signal to press freedom practitioners in this country,” said Dr. Manuel Jaudian, COPC’s president.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) also decried the shutdown.
In a statement, NUJP blamed the shutdown order on President Duterte’s “wrath.”
“All this stems from President Rodrigo Duterte’s personal vendetta against the network, whose franchise renewal he pledged to block,” the statement reads in part.
The NUJP pointed out that there are people in certain areas where only ABS-CBN is the source of news at a time when information could spell life and death due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It sends a clear message: What Duterte wants, Duterte gets. And it is clear, with this brazen move to shut down ABS-CBN, that he intends to silence the critical media and intimidate everyone else into submission,” the NUJP statement reads.
The Freedom for Media, Freedom for All also stood by the media workers and journalists of ABS-CBN. It launched a signature campaign for the reopening of ABS-CBN.
“We seek signatures from our friends in the media, civil society, academe, government, and the private sector. Participation either as individual and/or by organization is most welcome,” their statement appealed.
The FMFA Network is composed of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Mindanews, Philippine Press Institute, and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. (Cong B. Corrales)
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