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SolGen move vs ABS-CBN a 'direct attack' on press freedom: watchdog

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ABS-CBN News

The Philippine government&#x27;s top lawyer mounted a &quot;direct attack&quot; on the freedoms of expression and the press when it questioned the franchise of ABS-CBN Corp, a media watchdog said Monday. Solicitor General Jose Calida in a &quot;quo warranto&quot; petition accused ABS-CBN of violating provisions of its franchise, which will expire in March. The House of Representatives has yet to hear several bills seeking to renew the company&#x27;s license to operate. ABS-CBN is &quot;major source&quot; of information that the public needs &quot; to decide their futures,&quot; said National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) former director Nonoy Espina. &quot;It&#x27;s part of the dialogue, it&#x27;s part of the free exchange of ideas and information. You shut that down, you shut off a huge source of ideas and information... It&#x27;s a huge disservice to the people,&quot; he told ANC. &quot;The quo warranto petition and its implications are really a direct attack on freedom of the press, freedom of expression,&quot; he added. The move also implies that &quot;the government doesn&#x27;t really trust Congress to do its bidding and kill the franchise renewal bills,&quot; Espina claimed. &quot;If they can&#x27;t stop Congress from acting on the bill, then the quo warranto petition is the way to go to at least stop it,&quot; he said. Congress, he said, should &quot;prove itself an independent and co-equal branch of government.&quot; &quot;To not act on the bill is to prove that they&#x27;re the lapdogs of this administration. Are they independent or are they mere puppets of a vindictive President?&quot; he said. <div>ANC, Feb. 10, 2020 </div>

The Philippine government's top lawyer mounted a "direct attack" on the freedoms of expression and the press when it questioned the franchise of ABS-CBN Corp, a media watchdog said Monday.

The Philippine government's top lawyer mounted a "direct attack" on the freedoms of expression and the press when it questioned the franchise of ABS-CBN Corp, a media watchdog said Monday.