(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to block the renewal of the franchise of television network giant ABS-CBN, and to go after the tax liabilities of the owners of the newspaper and media company, the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The President said ABS-CBN was “engaged in swindling,” citing an incident during the campaign period where he had paid for a political ad, only to find out it wasn’t aired. He said his money had not also been returned.
“If you are engaged in swindling..if you operate ABS CBN, tapos manloloko lang kayo ng tao, magswindling lang kayo.. I have to stop you, di ba?” the President said.
“Irresponsible ABS CBN. Tanggapin niyo pera namin, tapos kalimutan lang ninyo,” he said Thursday.
Duterte also hit at the Inquirer owners, saying they had been controlling a property that is originally the property of the Philippine government. He said this was the Mile Long property in Makati.
“Yung mga crusaders na mga newspaper. Bakit sila corrupt din. Yang Mile Long na iyan! Sinong may-ari?” he said.
“Tapos sasabihin nila immorality, graft and corruption, and you have P1.5 billion liability,” Duterte said, as he continued to hit the newspaper’s owners.
“I assure you after all of these things here, I will start to recover what is government property, including yang Inquirer na yan. Crusader kuno. Yun pala crony din,” he said.
He said that he would go after the Inquirer owners for the Mile Long property, within six months’ time.
“I will recover the property for the Filipinos. Everybody who has a tax obligation must start to talk now. Within six months’ time I will go after them,” Duterte said.
“You have to let go of that property. It is not yours,” he said addressing himself to the Inquirer owners.
The President said he would “encourage the Ombudsman to fast-track the case which had already been filed earlier.
“(It was) sold to you for a song? You have to return and you have to pay your taxes,” the President said.
He also hit at media corruption and irresponsibility.
“You don’t know responsibility,” he said.
“Wala na akong respeto sa media,” he added, recalling his bad experience with the press who he said claimed to be crusaders.
“Hindi ako nagpapalit-palit ng istorya. Kayo ang mahilig mag-misquote ng istorya,” he told reporters in an ambush interview in Malacanang Thursday.
“Wala naman akong sinabing hindi ko ginawa,” he said.
“Ngayon itong mga mayayaman, oligarchs. Number one itong mga Prieto, may-ari ng Inquirer. You can be sure that I will proceed with you harshly,” the President warned.
“Return the property of the people that you got,” he said.
Duterte then asked the reporters covering him what they can say about media corruption.
“Why did you not expose that?” he asked reporters on the alleged anomalies committed by the media companies.
The President also said the media companies do not know the essence of press freedom, when they cite it as their defense.
“You don’t know what press freedom is. I have every right to question you as a citizen of this republic,” he said.
“Freedom of expression. Yan ang laban ko sa inyong press freedom. Freedom of what I want to say. You cannot stop me,” he added.
