MANILA — ABS-CBN programs mirror realities of Filipino families and provide audiences lessons and values unique to its culture, the company's executive in charge of broadcast told lawmakers on Monday.

ABS-CBN Corp. chief operating officer (COO) for broadcast Socorro Vidanes said the network's shows are always anchored on values that make a Filipino family.

"We tell stories that teach life lessons and our stories embody Filipino values. Filipino values like hard work, honesty, respect, resilience, and most of all, love for family, country, and God dahil po ang sentro ng aming mga kuwento ay ang pamilyang Pilipino," Vidanes said, in response to Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, Jr.'s questions about the "morality" of some ABS-CBN programs.

Abante, a self-proclaimed "family man," raised questions about ABS-CBN's programs and if they complied with government regulations that impose "Filipino cultural values as standard" under Presidential Decree No. 1986.

"Do you have a morality issue? Are we to assume that if given another 25 years, these are the types of programs you will continue to air?" Abante asked.

"Have you forsaken contemporary Filipino values and morality in favor of the ratings?" he added.

Abante cited several instances, such as actress Anne Curtis' 2013 "sexy wet performance" on Sunday variety show ASAP and some ABS-CBN's series that show "lewd scenes" as examples that allegedly deviate from Filipino values.

'MAHAL NAMIN ANG AUDIENCE NAMIN'

Vidanes said it was never ABS-CBN's intention to offend its audiences.

"It has never been our intention to destroy any person or family, nanay din po ako (I am also a mother)... There is no intention to give audience trash kasi po mahal namin ang audience namin and we are here to serve them... Maganda ang hangarin namin. We want to entertain, inspire and give hope to the Filipino audience." Vidanes told Abante.

She added that in case of infractions, the company always submits itself to the regulator's decision.

"Kung merong mga unresolved issues, we present our position to the adjudication committee of MTRCB (Movie and Television Review and Classification Board) and we come up with agreements and changes....If there are infractions, we correct them right away and definitely we apologize to our audiences," Vidanes said.

ABS-CBN officials faced lawmakers for the 12th time on Monday in a bid to obtain a fresh 25-year franchise.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on May 5 shut down ABS-CBN's free television and radio services despite its earlier commitment to let the network stay on air while lawmakers deliberated on its license renewal.

• NTC orders ABS-CBN to stop broadcasting

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