A Facebook post claims that Congress has decided to grant a new broadcast franchise to media conglomerate ABS-CBN. This is false.
There are currently no bills filed in the 20th Congress seeking to restore the network’s franchise. Similar bills filed in the previous Congress, which ended in June, will have to be refiled.
Uploaded on July 30, the erroneous post bore a graphic that read:
“SHOCKING ABS-CBN BIBIGYAN NA NG FRANCHISE! SA WAKAS BABALIK NA SA CHANNEL 2. IBABALIK NA PO NAMIN ANG FRANCHISE NG ABS-CBN. HOUSE BILL 11252: ABS-CBN FRANCHISE.”
(Shocking. ABS-CBN will be given a franchise! Finally it will return on Channel 2. We will restore the franchise of ABS-CBN. House Bill 11252: ABS-CBN franchise).
As of Aug. 13, there are currently no bills filed in either the Senate or House of Representatives proposing to grant ABS-CBN a new broadcast franchise.
House Bill 11252, which the post referred to, was one of five House bills on the ABS-CBN franchise that stalled at the committee level in the 19th Congress.
Bills not enacted into laws are terminated upon the term conclusion of the Congress where it was filed, according to House and Senate rules.
VERA Files Fact Check has debunked disinformation on the matter since the network was shut down in 2020.
Uploaded by FB page Queen Scope (created Aug. 25, 2024 as JLO Spotlight), the untrue post has so far received 1,928 interactions.
