Chairman of embattled Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN resigns
ABS-CBN’s closure prompted outpouring support for the media company from the Philippine public (Wikimedia Commons).
Five months after the screens of ABS-CBN, the Philippines’ largest and oldest media company went dark, its chairman, Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III, resigned on September 24 citing personal reasons. Lopez came under intense pressure this year during many congressional hearings where ABS-CBN fought—albeit futilely—to renew its government-issued TV franchise. While ABS-CBN’s closure embodies Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s apparent consolidation of power through curtailing dissent and opposition, Lopez’s resignation crystalizes another one of Duterte’s goals—dismantling the powerful Philippine oligarchy.
The rejection of ABS-CBN’s TV franchise on July 10 came after months of dramatic congressional hearings and negotiations. Congress rejected the network’s hopes for the renewal of its 25-year franchise on the grounds of questionable allegations including tax avoidance, poor labor practices, and violations of various laws. It took issue with Lopez’s dual Filipino-American citizenship in particular, citing national law stating media companies cannot be under foreign ownership.
Many citizens took to the streets following Congress’ vote to deny the bid and rallied against what they considered an attack on press freedom and democracy by the government. The rejection of ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal came only a month after Filipino journalist and outspoken Duterte critic Maria A. Ressa was charged with cyber libel, and only days after the passage of a controversial anti-terror bill that many think inhibits freedom of speech.
Duterte’s rocky relationship with ABS-CBN is seen as the progenitor of the media company’s woes. ABS-CBN has been critical of Duterte’s deadly drug war, and drew Duterte’s ire over the network’s alleged biases against him during his 2016 presidential campaign. Duterte has on multiple occasions denounced the company as fake news and propaganda, and has even overtly threatened to have it shut down himself. Duterte’s close ally and solicitor-general appointee Jose Calida served a cease-and-desist order for the network’s channels in May. Many lawmakers who voted against ABS-CBN are also stalwart Duterte allies.
Others see ABS-CBN’s franchise rejection as in line with Duterte’s promises to dismantle an oligarchy deeply entrenched in Philippine politics. Duterte, following ABS-CBN’s closure, remarked, “ I am very happy [because] I dismantled the oligarchy that controlled the economy of the Filipino people.”
Lopez is the scion of an affluent and powerful family which had ABS-CBN as the crown jewel of their business empire. He is also the latest in a line of powerful businessmen who have squared off (and lost) against the administration. Early in Duterte’s administration, the President singling out tycoon Roberto Ongpin led to Ongpin’s resignation from his company, PhilWeb. More recently, government offensives against the country’s water duopoly caused the influential Zobel de Ayala family to surrender its controlling stake in its company Manila Water.
Interestingly, historical parallels abound. The last time the Lopez family was targeted by the government and ABS-CBN was shut down was during the reign of former president-turned-dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s. During that period of martial law, Marcos—who Duterte calls his hero—seized the Lopez family’s holdings, forcing them into exile. “Every time a budding dictator is set to consolidate power in the Philippines,” journalist Maria Ressa writes, “he attacks the Lopez family.”