Philippine church and business leaders have expressed alarm over a government agency’s shutdown of the country’s largest TV and radio network, which has been a major provider of news on the coronavirus outbreak.
President Trump toured an N95 mask manufacturing plant Tuesday, with Guns N’ Roses’ “Live and Let Die” playing loudly in the background.
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines protested the closure “on behalf of journalists and thousands of workers affected by the decision” as they struggled to cope with the contagion. ABS-CBN has more than 11,000 news and production personnel nationwide. Aside from reporting on the coronavirus, which has infected nearly 10,000 people and killed 637 in the Philippines, it has also provided truckloads of food and medical aid.
Media watchdogs accused Duterte and his government of muzzling independent media like ABS-CBN that have reported critically on issues including the president’s anti-drug crackdown, in which thousands of mostly poor drug suspects have been killed. Government officials denied the closure was a press freedom issue, insisting that everyone must comply with the law.
But ahead of the franchise expiration, Solicitor-General Jose Calida asked the Supreme Court in February to revoke the operating franchises of ABS-CBN and a subsidiary in a separate attempt to shut down the company for allegedly abusing its franchises and violating a constitutional prohibition on foreign investment in Philippine media. ABS-CBN denied the allegations.
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