Quo vadis, quo warranto petition?
DURING the Supreme Court’s en banc session on May 19, 2020, on the petition filed by ABSCBN Corp. against the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the high court separately impleaded the Senate and the House of Representatives as parties to the case and required them to comment on the petition within a nonextendable period of 10 calendar days from receipt of notice. It likewise required the NTC to file a comment on ABS-CBN’s petition.
What happened to the quo warranto case filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Feb.10, 2020, prior to ABS-CBN’s filing of their own petition against NTC? It should have been consolidated with ABS-CBN’s petition, considering that the issues in both cases are closely intertwined. At any rate, being the statutory counsel of the NTC, the OSG can muscle its way through and force the issue in their soon-to-be-filed comment in compliance with the above directives from the Supreme Court.
Revisiting ABS-CBN’s franchise, Republic Act (RA) 7966.
It is fundamental that any legislative franchise must follow the provisions of the Constitution, applicable laws and the franchise itself. I call this the law triad. It is not enough that the Constitution is obeyed. It is not enough that applicable laws are not transgressed. It is downright necessary that the franchise itself is not violated.
In the quo warranto case, the OSG asserts that ABS-CBN violated its legislative franchise and the foreign ownership restriction on mass media under the Constitution.
The OSG noted that ABS-CBN, “as the biggest broadcasting entity, it is able to shape the public’s opinion on a variety of issues, apart from providing entertainment. However, its size and function does not exempt it from complying with, and upholding the laws of the land, including the terms of its very existence — its franchise.”
Under RA 7966, the grantee (i.e. ABS-CBN), as part of its responsibility to the public, shall “not use its stations for the broadcasting of obscene and indecent language, speech, act or scene, or for the dissemination of deliberately false information or willful misrepresentation to the detriment of the public interest, or to incite, encourage, or assist in subversive or treasonable acts.” I will let the readers decide if ABS-CBN has violated this particular proviso of the franchise.
More importantly, “the grantee shall not lease, transfer, grant the usufruct of, sell nor assign this franchise or the rights and privileges acquired thereunder to any person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity, without the approval of the Congress of the Philippines.” Yet, as records show, ABS- CBN had formed several other corporations, both local and international, and assigned the right and privilege to do broadcasting — without any approval from the Congress.
The OSG revealed that “ABS-CBN Corp. also owns and controls at least seven other holding companies, including the ABS-CBN Global Ltd. incorporated in the Cayman Islands” and ABS-CBN Global Hungary in Budapest, Hungary.
However, there is one more peculiar company that ABS-CBN owned which escaped the eyes of the OSG — Play Innovations, Hungary Kft.
ABS- CBN interests in Hungary
In an Aug. 7, 2018 quarterly report submitted by ABS-CBN Corp. to the issuer compliance and disclosure department of the Philippine Dealing Exchange Corp., the former disclosed its list of subsidiaries. Among those listed was ABSCBN Global Hungry, Kft., wholly owned holding company based in Budapest, Hungary.
It likewise listed Play Innovations, Hungary Kft., a theme park in Budapest, Hungary, in which it has a controlling interest of 73 percent. A footnote on the report stated, “On July 7, 2017, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) approved the incorporation of ABS-CBN Themed Experiences. ABS-CBN Themed Experiences was established primarily to design, build, develop, manage, operate and maintain theme and amusement parks, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, refreshment parlors and other attractions and facilities.” It seems that ABS-CBN is venturing in all sorts of businesses.
According to D& B Hoovers, a company that provides sales leads and sales intelligence data, including contacts, financial and competitor information, on over 120 million companies around the world, “Play Innovations Hungary Kft. is located in Budapest, Hungary and is part of the consulting services industry. Play Innovations Hungary Kft. has one employee at this location and generates 0.77 million in sales (USD). There are three companies in the Play Innovations Hungary Kft. corporate family.” If it is a theme park, how come it employs only four people?
An online search with Hungary’s Crefoport credit information database, ceginformacio.hu, reveals that Play Innovations, Hungary Kft.’s main activity is “leasing of intellectual property and similar products, except copyrighted works.” It was established on Sept. 12, 2012 and as of May 5, 2020 had two owners and two employees. What has “leasing of intellectual property and similar products” got to do with an entertainment theme park? Is it a mere shell or dummy company established to skirt the law?
Why Hungary, of all places? Is this somewhat connected to the famous personality George Soros (real name Schwartz György) who was born in Budapest, Hungary?
George Soros, the media mogul
The October 2019 article of Nancy Smith in the Sunshine State
News cited a Media Research report, “‘ George Soros: Media Mogul.’ The Hungarian-born billionaire has managed to insinuate himself and his money into the media culture, making connections with the nation’s top publishing organizations. He has direct ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets — including TheNewYorkTimes,Washington the Associated Press, CNN and ABC. Each one of those operations has employees, often high-level ones, on the boards of Soros-funded media operations.”
The same report concludes that for George Soros and other liberal backers, “it was again proof that a strategy of funding journalism was a powerful way to influence the American public. It’s a strategy that Soros has been deploying extensively in media both in the United States and abroad. Since 2003, Soros has spent more than $52 million funding media properties, including the infrastructure of news — journalism schools, investigative journalism and even industry organizations.”
Following that same line, did George Soros, in one way or another, fund ABS-CBN, or any of its highlevel personnel? I am just asking.
Possible connection to Smartmatic
The Automated Elections System (AES) of the Philippines had been serviced by a sole service provider since its implementation in 2010. That sole AES provider is none other than Smartmatic Corp. It has often been alleged that the Filipinos do not elect their government officials — Smartmatic does.
Smartmatic’s website, Smartmatic.com, admits that “it is no secret that our Chairman Lord Mark Malloch-Brown is a member of a number of nonprofit boards addressing global issues from poverty reduction to conflict resolution, including the Global Board of the Open Society Foundation. This is stated clearly in his official biography. Lord Malloch-Brown is a highly respected global figure whose credentials include former deputy secretary-general of the United Nations and former vice chairman of the World Economic Forum. He also served in the British Cabinet, as minister of state in the Foreign Office.”
Malloch-Brown’s “other positions have included vice-chairman of George Soros’ Investment Funds, as well as his Open Society Institute, a vice president at the World Bank and the lead international partner at Sawyer Miller, a political consulting firm. He also has served as vice chairman of the World Economic Forum. He began his career as a journalist at TheEconomist.”
So, Malloch-Brown worked for George Soros. George Soros heads the Open Society Foundation. The Open Society Foundation funds media operations and has ties with top mainstream news outlets. ABSCBN is a top mainstream news outlet in the Philippines. This is a classic for conspiracy theorists.
ABS-CBN. Hungary, Budapest. George Soros. Open Society Foundation. Lord Malloch-Brown. Smartmatic. Journalism, politics, elections. Coincidence of coincidences?
You connect the dots.