Celebrating the Sunrise and the Sunset Phenomenon

Volume 1, Issue No. 46

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

 Our latest as of Wednesday, May 27, 2020 

~ The arrival of spring and its quiet transformation into summer has highlighted the daily phenomenon many people take for granted, that is, the sunrise in the east and sunset in the west. Peeking through the window facing east, the everyday occurrence is an amazing spectacle in itself. The sun radiates in a blast of tertiary colors - yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, and blue-purple before it bursts into a ball of brightness.

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PANORAMA OF A GLORIOUS MORNING

The Amazing Spectacle of Sunrises

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

Sunrise, sunset

                                                                        Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly fly the years

One season following another

Laden with happiness and tears

                               - From Fiddler on the Roof

TORONTO - The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. This daily phenomenon is celebrated in songs, movies, stories, poems; it's romanticized, worshipped, and honoured in different cultures in many ways since time immemorial.

Jose Rizal's opening line in Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell) pays homage to the sun, thus: "Adiós, Patria adorada, región del sol querida . . . " (Farewell, my adored Land, region of the sun caressed . . . ).

As winter departs and gives way to spring, and very soon, summer, the sun cajoles us to go outdoors and feel its majesty. By the way, this year's spring is the earliest we had in 124 years, coming as it did on March 19, a day or two early for much of the last century, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac.

In a few weeks, spring will be gone. Summer sets in starting June 21 through most of August, although unofficially, the season has already begun this week. Because summer has the most daylight of any season, every community in Toronto hold their events in parks, public spaces, and streets.

Where I grew up, the setting sun attracts countless watchers awed and startled by the magical turning of the blue skies into orange, purple, a combination of both, until it disappears from the horizon.

The sunset had not been of much interest to me earlier in life. Having been born in a Cavite fishing village on the shores of Manila Bay, villagers regularly see the sun sinking at dusk into the tadpole-shaped Corregidor Island across it. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corregidor).

As a journalist based in Manila many years later, colleagues in the foreign press corps kept telling me it was stunning to watch the sun go down in Manila Bay, preferably in the Malate area, only because we could easily walk the distance to our favourite watering hole, the Cafe Adriatico.

The coffee shop/restaurant was the go-to place to wind down for foreign journalists, many of them friends of the owner, who were in town for the unfolding events. There we would binge on food and drinks while comparing notes about news coverage. (http://ljcrestaurants.com.ph/restaurants/cafe-adriatico/).

It was the 1980s and the Philippines, still under President Ferdinand Marcos' martial rule since September 1972, was a powderkeg waiting to explode. It didn't take long before everything came to a head. Manila, the capital, was in great peril.  

With the assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino at the airport in August 1983, the fuse had been ignited. Two-and-a-half years later, in February 1986, his widow, Corazon Aquino, took power as president after the People Power Revolution kicked Ferdinand Marcos out and installed her. A series of coups d'état then followed.

I digress a little bit, sorry. This article is about the sunrise and sunset. Well, part of my appreciation for something like the sunset has been shaped and sustained by what I heard, and repeatedly told, and witnessed about the routine of a changing time. 

From birth to adulthood, I grew up witnessing the day's transformation. It was ironic that despite the early exposure, I ignored, or failed, to see what foreign eyes pleased them. Perhaps its regularity had benumbed my senses.

Not until I moved to California in the mid-90s did I realize how much I missed such a mundane thing. In the town of La Jolla overlooking the Pacific Ocean, couples commemorated the sunset with glasses of wine. (Videos at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JHHCnYhjfM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Ob8ioCn0M).

People either drive or walk to the beachfront with their beverage and a bag of hors d'oeuvres and wait for the hour. The fading glow of an orange-colored sun climbing down in the red-and-purple horizon was a perfect setting to turn romantic, kiss, and hold hands while sipping wine.

Now in Toronto, the landscape has changed dramatically. Skyscrapers and the endless gentrification of many areas have managed to hide what otherwise would be stunning views of the sunset. 

There's one place though where one can watch it with some expense - at Toronto Island. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umN4fk3cyPo). Farther on, Muskoka, Ontario, which is 158 kilometers from Toronto, is a good alternative.

So with so much time and money (which I don't have) involved in chasing sunsets, I've settled for sunrises - the bright birthing of a new day - for free and in the comfort of home. It's as magical.

The everyday spectacle of sunrise has practically pegged my waking hours to when the sun's first purplish glow hits the window of my home office. The towering buildings and tall trees in the quiet neighbourhood add to an enchanting panorama of a glorious morning.

To wake up at just about the time the sun would touch the face with its splendor is something I've come to expect, falling for it in the process, and treasuring every moment it radiates its freshness.

Through these months, I've recorded in both photographs and videos the sun emerging from treelines and buildings and up to the moment it scatters its energy to herald a new day. Its appearance was erratic, understandably, during the last winter.

But from the start of spring, my visual record has been fairly consistent. The sunrises of the season are natural phenomena worth keeping. And to think, watching them from my bedroom window, and capturing them in film, is a priceless luxury. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

The Real Issue with ABS-CBN Is Money, Politics and Power

Volume 1, Issue No. 45

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

Our latest as of Tuesday, May 19, 2020 

~ A Philippine national artist for literature has offloaded his sentiments about ABS-CBN and the controversy generated by its closure. Rather than press freedom, the main issues revolve around money, politics and power. That's the view shared by author, publisher, and journalist F. Sionil Jose in a commentary in the Manila-based Philippine Star.

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F. SIONIL JOSE, NATIONAL ARTIST, SAYS:

ABS-CBN 'Not Crucial' to the Philippines' Survival

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Do not mock a pain that you haven't endured - Anonymous

TORONTO - "The real issue with ABS-CBN and its owners is not press freedom," according to F. Sionil Jose, the multi-awarded novelist, publisher and lecturer, and one of the Philippines' 17 national artists for literature. "It is money, politics and power".

The 95-year-old is commenting on the shutdown of "the Philippines' largest network" following the expiration of its 25-year franchise on May, 4, 2020. On that same day, the National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease-and-desist order demanding an immediate stop to its operations. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RexihfFtXo).

"ABS-CBN is not crucial to this nation's survival nor does its closure mark the end of press freedom," Mr. Jose wrote in his Hindsight column on Monday, May 18, 2020, published by the Philippine Star, a broadsheet daily identified with the so-called Yellows, the political opposition that President Rodrigo Duterte had defeated at the 2016 presidential elections.

He continued: "Hundreds of TV and radio stations and broadsheets will continue to purvey news and views. And there is the omnipresent social media wide open to both idiot and intellectual".

"In fact," he said, "the removal of this media giant will contribute to the levelling of the playing field and the strengthening of democracy". (Background: https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-profile/national-artists-of-the-philippines/f-sionil-jose/).

Mr. Jose's comments were the strongest among Manila's intelligentsia unsympathetic to the plight of the radio and television empire owned by the affluent Lopez family whose business interests at one time encompassed shipping, sugar plantations, electric generation, and banking.

The brothers Eugenio Lopez Sr. and Fernando Lopez - a vice president of the Philippines for three terms - were the chief architects of the business which eventually grew into a conglomerate that included the now-defunct Manila Chronicle, and ABS-CBN, the country's largest network.

"The real issue," said Mr. Jose, "is x x x how power is acquired, how it is abused and maintained, and most of all, how it obstructs this country's economic and democratic development". (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z6-skUR25k).

ABS-CBN appears to have influential connections in the two-chamber Congress of the Philippines, which consists of the 24-seat Senate and the House of Representatives of 304 members.

Last week, for example, the Speaker of the House, Representative Allan Peter Cayetano, proposed giving the network a provisional franchise - essentially a temporary permit - to allow it to operate until October 31, 2020. But legal experts claimed the scheme violates the Philippine constitution.

On Tuesday, May 19, 2020, Manila time, the Supreme Court ordered the government to comment within 10 days on a petition by ABS-CBN to resume operation. The court also asked the network to respond within five days. 

The shutdown of ABS-CBN has become fodder for the opposition and its most unlikely ally, the leftist organizations some of whose members are in Congress, to denounce President Duterte, saying the network's closure was an attack on the freedom of the press. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZbdunLl4KM).

To which Mr. Jose reacted, saying: "All too often, we are lulled into acquiescence, if not apathy, by the seductive allure of slogans of universal abstractions like freedom and the gloss and glitter of instruments like ABS-CBN. Yes, ABS-CBN indeed has its uses. 

"But reduced to its very core, it is pure entertainment. History is full of similar even analogous examples. When the ancient Romans were restive, the Caesars gave them parades and circuses. 

"As for freedom, it is the camouflage of the true nature of ABS-CBN just like the sea that hides the iceberg. Freedom is also the sugar coating that attracts the libertarians, the sincere believers in human rights, who have no time to look deeper, beyond the glossy surface". (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

The quarantine that followed the coronavirus pandemic has been a kind of blessing for Mr. Jose. "I am very grateful to the Lord for letting me live this long – I am 95 – without the ailments that cripple the mind. This isolation enforced by the pandemic gave me time to think more deeply and read and review some of what I had written".

Tribute to Gloria Mendoza, My "Inang" in Toronto

Volume 1, Issue No. 44

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

 Our latest as of Friday, May 15, 2020 

~ She was my "Inang," the deferential endearment I lovingly bestowed on Gloria Mendoza, mother to such renowned figures as Teresa M. Torralba and the respected Toronto Police Sgt. Philip Mendoza, and mother-in-law to popular heartthrob Ramon "Mon" Torralba. "Inang" quietly bade farewell at age 91 on Thursday morning, May 14, 2020. I laid claim to her as my "other" mother the first time I saw her in Toronto, for in her person I visualized both my own mother and grandmother in ways that could only be described as uncanny.

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GLORIA MENDOZA, 91 YEARS OLD

Remembering My 'Other' Mother in Toronto

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes part of us". - Helen Keller

TORONTO - One distressful news after another. That's how it has been these many weeks past. And seemingly, the endless global life-and-death tally caused by the coronavirus pandemic is part of the new normal we see around.

The loss of life is always painful regardless of the circumstance. It diminishes us one way or another. Personally, the grief I suffer in losing a daughter to cancer on Christmas day in 2016 has not eased. Not in years. Probably not until I see her own two daughters grow up to be fine ladies like her. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVBXvLC6Xno).

Now again, I am saddened by the departure this Thursday (May 14, 2020) morning of the person I felt so close to next to my own mother, the 91-year-old Gloria Mendoza, the female parent who gave birth, in this order, to Tony Mendoza, Teresa M. Torralba, Philip Mendoza, Aurora Mendoza, and who, on their own, created families and reared a clan. 

"She passed away due to Asphyration," says Teresa, the low-profile brains behind the success of Taste of Manila street festival. "I even received a call from the nurse in the morning saying happily that Mama's second covid test just came back negative," she explains. 

It wasn't COVID-19 that took her life, to be clear about it. As a matter of fact, the Rouge Valley Extendicare Nursing Home that had been her domicile for several months is the only one in Toronto's east end declared covid-free, thus enabling the family to be at her bedside.

As a precaution, however, each family member was allowed 30 minutes with her. When the time neared, others prayed the rosary at the hospital parking lot facing her room window. "Inspite of the cold wintery weather, we were praying for a painless and peaceful death for our dearest Mama and lola for the kids. Our prayers were answered," Teresa says.

Teresa and husband Ramon "Mon" Torralba, and the Mendoza siblings, are what I consider "kapatid" - non-blood relations but brothers and sisters nevertheless. Since moving in Toronto from California in 2010, they're the only other family I knew, except for another good friend and a media colleague from a long time ago - the late Tenny Soriano.

I had a warm heart for Gloria Mendoza the moment I saw her several years back when she still remembered my name and the voice that went with it. Her caring ways (e. g. kumain ka na ba?), looks, voice, and the way she carried herself despite her advancing age were sweet reminders of my mother Virginia and her mom, Ceferina, my grandmother.

Far from being an illusion, Gloria Mendoza had brought them back to life. In her, I always saw my mother and grandmother. But it is the facial resemblance of Ceferina and Gloria that's uncanny. Perhaps it was one of the unexplainable things that drew me to her which eventually led me to call her "Inang" (for mother in the Tagalog region).

"Inang" was my Lola Ceferina of another moment in time. Ceferina had the Spanish mestiza looks about her, and so was "Inang". They could be mistaken for twin sisters, in fact. And that comparison goes beyond the physical.

From accounts Teresa told me once in a while, Gloria was a disciplinarian whose temper everyone in the brood avoided flaring up, or faced and suffered the consequences.

When I heard it, Teresa's story sounded like she was talking about my Lola Ceferina. Her depiction of her mother Gloria appeared exactly like she was describing my grandmother.

She would swear in classic polysyllables, her Tagalog and Spanish words punctuated in customary Batangueña-style, according to Teresa. On the other hand, my Lola Ceferina also loved to curse. She had a treasure chest of vintage Spanish expletives while growing up in Cavite that was readily available for any and all occasions.

During the times I visited Mon and Teresa at their downtown condo, I would sit with Inang and exchange a few words. There were times they would share their meal, much to her delight as she felt happy playing host for a guest like myself.

It was during those visits that the attachment between a son to his mother or grandmother grew strong. On some community occasions when Teresa would bring her, I'd see to it that I would greet her and kiss her hand in the traditional "mano po" style.

"Kilala ninyo ba ako?" I would ask, more as a reminder of my presence than a challenge to her memory. She would smile and nod in agreement and hold my hands. That was so like my grandma.

Inang left not without a life-long legacy. Teresa remembers her "commandments", cast not so much in stone as in the hearts and minds of her four children, nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

"Growing up," Teresa says, "Mama engrained on us her children to pray always and to love one another and to help a sibling who is in need". No wonder the whole clan is religious!

Inang's list, according to Teresa:

"To work hard and harder so we can have a decent life. That everything we do in life is a sacrifice. To think 10 times before you get yourself into something.  

"To give wholeheartedly and never expect anything in return. To never put down a person because one day your paths may cross again and your situation in life may be switched. 

"To look at yourself in the mirror before you judge a person. To always stay humble and glue your feet on the ground. Always be considerate of others.  

"Most of all to always look back from where you came from or you will never get to where you're going. 

"She said if we do so God will bless not only us but our good deeds will trickle all the way down to our children and grandchildren".

Who would not have loved my Inang the way I loved my own? Aren't we all the better for the lessons she passed on? (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

The "11 Million" Mistake of Rappler's Maria Ressa

Volume 1, Issue No. 43

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

Our latest as of Thursday, May 14, 2020 

~ The eleven million (11,000,000) workers Rappler's Maria Ressa had earlier claimed lost their jobs by the shutdown of ABS-CBN was an egregious lie that fits the broadcast station's narrative as "the Philippines' largest network". But neither that number nor the eleven thousand (11,000) she said was the right figure was correct. The more accurate count was four thousand (4,000), according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, based on what the radio-TV empire had supplied to the government agency. But even then, these workers continue to be employed as the shutdown did not mean dissolving the corporation. The 11-million translates to 11-million lies and 11-million loss of face.

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AN EGREGIOUS LIE AND A LOSS OF FACE

Over-Inflating ABS-CBN's Emotional Appeal

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“It's not a person's mistakes which define them - it's the way they make amends.” ― Freya North

TORONTO - "Before opening your mouth," a good friend said in an email alerting me to the story, "make sure you know the facts: it's not 11 million, but more than 4,000". And to add to her obvious disappointment, she stressed in Tagalog: "Akala ko ba matalino siya".

That encapsulates the disbelief many of us feel once we got wind of this interview Maria Ressa had with ABC News Australia on Thursday, May 7, 2020, where she stated that eleven million (11,000,000) workers have lost their jobs after ABS-CBN shut down two days earlier on May 5, 2020. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZbdunLl4KM).

That magnitude would approximate the population of either the Dominican Republic (85th ranked), which has 10,847,910 people and South Sudan (84th ranked), which has 11,193,725 people. But ABS-CBN is just a broadcast network, not a country. Nonetheless, the media refer to it, metaphorically, as an empire.

Ressa's number is, of course, over-inflated. The popular figure circulating in social media is eleven thousand (11,000), which, apparently, is also false, but not denied by ABS-CBN officials. 

Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, however, puts the official count in a television interview at four thousand (4,000) workers affected by the closure.

Contrary to what's being fanned out, Bello stressed that the cease and desist order served on ABS-CBN did not result in the displacement of the 4,000 workers who remain employees of the network. "The order did not dissolve the corporation which continues to operate on social media," he explained. (Video at the 2:32 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il2n-C5CLPs).

Late into the night a day later, on May 8, 2020, Ressa, co-founder, CEO, and editor of the online news website Rappler, apologized to ABC News Australia and its anchor, Beverly O'Connor, explaining that her mind was racing ahead to what she was going to say next.

"I made a mistake. ABS-CBN has 11,000 workers," Ressa stated in what sounded like an impersonal remark on Facebook. 

"That error," she admitted, "has been used by nice Filipinos to call me ugly, to attack Rappler, and to incite hate against journalists. The error was all mine". 

Contrite? No. Unregretful and belligerent? Yes. She then took a swipe at them: "Sad that these folks have nothing better to do while our freedoms are being eroded".

That last sentence subtly hints at her as a freedom fighter of sorts. Whatever she makes of herself, the truth contravenes her facts. Her apology posted on Facebook was superficial. She also made an excuse of being "tired" when she did the interview. (Full text: https://www.facebook.com/mariaressa/posts/10220761078004125).

Indeed on the next day after she has presumably rested, she forgot to say sorry to the hundreds of Filipinos who watched the interview and felt insulted, and to the millions more who support the government of President Rodrigo Duterte in and outside of the Philippines. 

The "mistake" she owned up later planted the image of a heartless administration that did not bother whether or not harried workers survive the coronavirus pandemic with its decision to shut down ABS-CBN network and dislodge them from earning a living.

To me as a journalist, Ressa's statement was a reckless attempt - the latest so far in a string of attacks - to paint a grim picture of the homeland and the alleged repression taking place nationwide. The fact that Rappler could operate and Ressa could speak out are the best examples to repudiate those allegations.

Manila Times columnist Rigoberto Tiglao, author, former press secretary and ambassador, calls Ressa, in his own words, "a colossal con man or con woman or con person". Rappler, according to him, "has been the Yellow regime’s apologist, financed in so many ways by government contracts and a Yellow oligarch’s covert financial support".

In local parlance, the Yellows (an allusion to the Aquino-Cojuangco clan of former presidents Corazon Aquino and her son Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" fame) are the anti-Duterte individuals, organizations, and politicians who suffered a catastrophic loss in the 2016 presidential election. The group is now headed by Vice President Leni Robredo, a Liberal.

Through Rappler, Ressa has been a vocal arch-critic of Mr. Duterte. His administration has filed several cases against her, including four counts of tax violations. (List of cases at: https://www.rappler.com/nation/223968-list-cases-filed-against-maria-ressa-rappler-reporters).

A Manila lawyer, Trixie Cruz-Angeles, said in her radio program that Ressa's mistake was probably an honest one. She'd give her the benefit of the doubt even as she said it's difficult for her to apply the word "honest" on Ressa. (Video at the 6:39 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RexihfFtXo).

Ressa had been a media colleague in the heydays of President Cory Aquino. We bumped into each other occasionally at press coverages, she as bureau chief of CNN in Manila, and I, as a correspondent for the German News Agency (Deutsche Presse-Agentur). (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE).

The last time I saw her again was three decades later, in London, UK actually, where we happened to cover the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in June 2014. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTK4sxg42r0).

On a professional level, I find her affable but deeply competitive. But that's how it is in the foreign press, particularly in wire agencies where seconds in presenting the late-breaking news matter. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).

Should Closure of ABS-CBN Be Mourned?

Volume 1, Issue No. 42

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

Our latest as of Friday, May 8, 2020 

~ "In the service of the Filipino," the slogan of the now-defunct ABS-CBN network, did not work wonders as to coax its huge following to rescue the broadcast giant, marketed as "the Philippines' largest network," from its downfall. The supremacy of the law took a toll on the Manila-based media and entertainment empire to the delight of its many critics. Its president and CEO issued a last-ditch appeal for public support.

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SUDDENLY IT'S "OUR" ABS-CBN

A CEO's Pathetic Appeal to Emotions

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Even a witch wants sympathy.” ― Franny Billingsley

TORONTO -  After losing on the legal front, broadcast giant ABS-CBN has turned to its entertainment bailiwick, casting itself as a victim of government high-handedness and appealed for mass support to continue its work "in the service of the Filipino".

But after listening to Carlo Katigbak, the president and chief executive officer of ABS-CBN Corp., mouthed a farewell paean to the nation, it convinces me that the broadcast giant truly deserves what had befallen it three days earlier.

Everybody now knows that by operation of Philippine law, the Manila-based media and entertainment empire is dead in the water as of May 5, 2020, a casualty of its own undoing and wickedness. Published, but unconfirmed, reports claimed a total of 42 radio and TV stations nationwide were affected by the closure. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABS-CBN).

As the death knell loomed in the horizon on Tuesday, Katigbak issued a last appeal to the network's loyal patrons: "Ipadama, isaad at ipadinig po natin ang ating nararamdaman sa pagsasara ng ating ABS-CBN. Sa oras na ito, kami na man po ang humihingi na inyong pagdamay". (Loosely translated: Let's make our feelings on the closure of our ABS-CBN felt, told, and heard. This time, we're asking for your sympathy).

For one so high it practically made him unreachable to the masses of people and paying customers globally, Katigbak sounded pathetic, especially his use of the possessive "ating" ("our" in English) to cuddle public endorsement. 

Suddenly, it's "our ABS-CBN". Do we really belong in good or bad times, or only in times of need? Are we all "kapamilya"? (Related content: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/05/without-franchise-abs-cbn-network-closes.html)

Hardly has the "mourning" - contrived by supposed advocates of freedom of the press, in my honest opinion - begun by its loyal followers than a can of worms is already starting to surface that tends to show how the corporation was being run.

Interestingly, the issue of the freedom of the press was not among the subject discussed in a lengthy fact sheet called "Frequently Asked Questions: Bakit Wala Ngayon ang ABS-CBN sa TV?" released to this reporter by a company spokesperson in Toronto.

To the very end, ABS-CBN portrays itself as a fall guy of a repressive regime. The words of Katigbak, a cousin of Gabby Lopez III, son of Eugenio "Geny" Lopez Jr., spoke of defiance, not of defeat. He showed no humility or sadness associated with loss. (His statement at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C88pfaMygqA)

 

"Ang makapag-linkod sa inyo ay aming mission, at ang aming kaligayahan. Ngayon po ay dumating ang araw na kami naman ay dumudulog at nananawagan sa inyo. Hindi po ibinigay ng National Telecommunications Commission ang lisensiya para sa patuloy na paglilingkod ng ABS-CBN. 

"Kaya mawawala na po sa ere ang ating ABS-CBN. Ginawa na po namin ang lahat ng requirement para sa renewal at wala rin po kaming nilabag na batas," says the 50 year-old Katigbak. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Katigbak).

"Hindi po ibinigay ng NTC ang lisensiya para sa patuloy na paglilingkod ng ABS-CBN". Roughly translated, it blames the NTC for refusing to grant a franchise or a license for it to continue to operate.

The network is not exactly crippled, however. It can still broadcast through cable TV at ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), online at news.abs-cbn.com and patrol.ph, and on social media pages of ABS-CBN News, ANC, and DZMM TeleRadyo. Its “TV Patrol” is still available at iWant, TFC, ANC, Facebook, and YouTube of ABS-CBN News, the company said.

Why such a refusal by NTC? Or did ABS-CBN fail to comply with existing laws? Was Katigbak forthcoming with his statement or lying through his teeth?

One answer may be found in what Estrellita Juliano-Tamano, national chair of the 21-year-old Federation of International Cable TV and Telecommunications Association of the Philippines (FICTAP) has disclosed just within hours of ABS-CBN's shutdown. (More info at: http://fictap.com.ph/about.html)

According to her, the network had ingeniously attempted to expand its operation by sneaking an "s" to the word "channel", thus making it plural, in its application to renew its franchise by another 25 years. She explained that was the reason her organization continuously objected to the approval of its franchise.

"We believe one franchise, one channel, and when you say channels, that will mean many channels. It means a new application (as opposed to a renewal)," she says in an interview on GMA News with broadcast journalist Jessica Soho. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZbdunLl4KM).

Ms. Juliano-Tamano's assertion is being challenged by ABS-CBN. 

In a statement released to The Filipino Web Channel in Toronto on Thursday, May 7, 2020, ABS-CBN said in Tagalog: "Ang katotohanan: Walang nakasaad sa kahit anong bersyon ng franchise renewal ng ABS-CBN na limitado lang ito sa isang channel o isang frequency. (The truth: There is nothing in any version of the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN that limits to one channel or one frequency).

"Dahil sa teknolohiya, maaaring mag-broadcast ng maraming channels sa isang frequency. Maaaring tingin ng iba na isang banta sa kanilang negosyo ang pag-ere namin ng maraming channels. (Because of technology, it's okay to broadcast in many channels using one frequency. Some may look at this as a threat to their business).

FICTAP headed by Ms. Juliano-Tamano, according to its website, is "the largest non-profit organization of Cable TV operators all over the country" with a membership of 1,000 small and medium cable enterprises. It has "embraced the expansion from delivering traditional cable TV into telecommunications and value-added services".

Beyond the rhetorics, it is clear ABS-CBN posed an existential threat to small- and medium-sized networks under the umbrella of FICTAP.

"Walang nilabag na batas ang ABS-CBN" (ABS-CBN did not violate any law), its statement emphasized, saying it was made clear by the National Telecommunications Commission, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Securities and Exchange Commission during a Senate hearing in February. 

Secretary Salvador Panelo, the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel of President Rodrigo Duterte, clarified that the case of ABS-CBN was beyond the reach of the chief executive even as he had time and again vocalized his hurt for the treatment he got as a candidate in 2016.

"Humingi (rin) ng paumanhin ang ABS-CBN kung nasaktan ang Pangulo sa pagpapalabas ng ad. Tinanggap naman ito ni Pangulong Duterte," (ABS-CBN apologized to the President and the President accepted), the network statement said, quoting CNN Philippines as its source.

A YouTube video showed Katigbak at a Senate hearing in February 2020 offering an apology to Mr. Duterte for not airing his political campaign advertisement despite the payment he had already made. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ziQicrpb4). (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).