Philippines asks court to shut down TV network

MANILA, PHILIPPINES— The Philippine government’s chief lawyer asked the Supreme Court on Monday to shut down the country’s largest TV network by revoking its operating franchises because of alleged constitutional violations.

President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly attacked ABSCBN Corp., along with at least two other news agencies, for making critical reports about him, including his crackdown on illegal drugs that has left thousands of mostly poor drug suspects dead.

Solicitor-General Jose Calida said he filed the petition against the TV network and its subsidiary, ABS-CBN Convergence Inc., for abusing its franchises and violating a constitutional prohibition on foreign investment in Philippine media. ABSCBN denied the allegations.

Calida accused ABS-CBN of “broadcasting for a fee, which is beyond the scope of its legislative franchise.” He said the network launched a pay-per-view channel without approval or a permit from the government’s National Telecommunications Commission.

Calida said the TV network accepted foreign investment through documents called Philippine Deposit Receipts that were issued by a holding company in violation of the constitutional ban.

“We want to put an end to what we discovered to be highly abusive practices of ABS-CBN benefiting a greedy few at the expense of millions of its loyal subscribers,” Calida said. “These practices have gone unnoticed or were disregarded for years.”