Madness and Congress
deserves the harshest condemnation.
As if that was not bad enough, we then heard Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta lamenting the fact that ABS-CBN appeared to have used digital technology when it offered TV plus and pay-per-view services at a time when government had not yet developed a regulatory regime for these. Marcoleta even advised ABS-CBN President and Chief Executive Officer Carlo Katigbak not to innovate. He made it appear as if the network did wrong in taking full advantage of a technological development. Marcoleta wanted ABS-CBN to wait first for government to catch up and pass the appropriate legislation.
As one who teaches science, technology and society, and the interaction between scientific and technological breakthroughs with the state, I find this view problematic, if not offensive. Anyone familiar with the history of human civilization would know that technological developments that affect daily lives first enter our consciousness when we use them. It is through our use of technology that the need for regulation arises. It is not the other way around, considering the enormous amount of institutional inertia that government processes inflict on innovation and the delay these would cause. If we follow Marcoleta’s line of reasoning, we would still be stuck using transistor radios when everyone else is using digital technology.
What makes Marcoleta’s argument even more problematic is the fact that it penalizes innovation, even as it passes the blame to people for the slowness of government action. The 1987 Constitution, in Article II Section 24, clearly declares, “The State recognizes the vital role of communication and information in nation-building.” In Article XIV Section 12, it further declares, “The State shall regulate the transfer and promote the adaptation of technology from all sources for the national benefit. It shall encourage the widest participation of private groups, local governments, and community in the generation and utilization of science and technology.” Thus, it is the duty of government to provide an enabling environment for the growth, development and utilization of information and communication technologies by passing developmental laws, and not to retard and stifle these with regulatory statutes.
If Congress would simply do its job, it should already have passed laws on digital media. Even better, it should have enabled through legislation a healthy and vibrant science and technology community, and provided a legal framework that would have been conducive to innovation. But unfortunately, instead of this, we now have a Congressman that chastises a media company for its innovativeness, and even admonishes it not to go fast in adopting new information and communication technologies.
It is really offensive that we have legislators who would have a mindset that assaults not only the rationality of science and innovation, but also the authority of the Constitution. One may be tempted to entertain the thought that all of these are for the purpose of making it difficult for ABS-CBN to renew its franchise. Defensor’s audacity to suggest barring ABS-CBN from broadcasting news and public affairs programs, in direct violation of the constitutional guarantee that no law shall be passed abridging press freedom, is so blatant that it is disturbing enough. But Marcoleta’s seemingly innocent advice that we should go slow in adopting and utilizing modern technologies, and in implementing innovative strategies, and to wait for government to pass legislation governing its use is so patently regressive that one can only be horrified at its serious implications for our national development, and the state of our well-being.
And now, after being grilled by lawmakers, the National Telecommunication Commission also pulled the plug on ABS-CBN’s cable and digital presence through Sky Cable’s Sky Direct and TV Plus services. This move further denied its household subscribers, many of who are in areas with no available signal except through satellite, access to vital information and entertainment that they need to be informed and keep their sanity during these stressful times.
It is obvious. The persecution of ABS-CBN by some members of Congress is relentless, unforgiving and total. The network must have offended the gods and so many people in high places, and the Lopezes must have owed humanity so much, that we all have to pay the price of witnessing the painful spectacle of our Congress descending into some kind of madness.