The House Committee on Justice postponed the scheduled investigation on the authenticity of the ABS-CBN land title.
“[The hearing] has been postponed to a later date upon consultation and upon advice from the leadership,” said the chairman of the committee, Leyte Representative Ching Veloso.
Sagip party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta earlier said in a Zoom meeting with other lawmakers that the network should be evicted from its property due to land title issues.
The issue on the land title first surfaced during the House committee hearing on the ABS-CBN franchise renewal application.
Veloso said the postponement of the probe aims to avoid duplication, “especially on conflicting findings of different committees of the House of Representatives, taking into account the complexity of the issues and allegations raised in the previous hearings of the joint committee [on legislative franchises and public accountability].”
Veloso, however, assured that the investigation on the ABS-CBN land title would continue.
“We assure that once this committee gets the go signal of the leadership, we will leave no stone unturned in conducting this inquiry and investigation over this issue,” he said.
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Probe on ABS-CBN land title postponed
“Additionally we wish to inform you, honorable Marcoleta, that the Department of Justice, the Office of the Solicitor General and the Land Registration Authority and the Registry of Deeds of Quezon City have already been alerted about this matter.”
Senator Richard Gordon earlier said the solons were “out of line” for talking about going after ABS-CBN land title just days after the network shutdown and its employees are still mourning.
“I don’t think they can confiscate the properties of the ABS-CBN without due process of law. They cancelled the franchise,” Gordon said.
“ABS-CBN is free to own it. Hindi naman puwede agawin ang physical properties ng ABS-CBN. I think they are out of line there,” he added.
The network’s franchise expired on May 4 and went off-air following the National Telecommunications Commission-issued cease and desist order.
ABS-CBN then started laying off employees and closing some program shows, particularly in news and current affairs department.