Mindanaotoday.com | Lawmaker behind ABS-CBN’s closure seeks fair treatment
By: Uriel Quilinguing
A party-list member of the current House of Representatives, who gained prominence during the 18th Congress for being the most vocal against the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN and later credited for the closure of a television network, is appealing for fair treatment from media practitioners.
Speaking during the 72nd founding anniversary of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club on Saturday, November 11, at a downtown restaurant in Cagayan de Oro, Congressman Rodante Marcoleta of SAGIP Party-list, said he has not been getting the credit he deserves from media coverages in the House of Representatives lately.
Marcoleta said it was he who initiated that move to cite in contempt the self-confessed whistle-blower on the alleged corruption in the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s issuance of franchises, and yet when the news came out on October 23, this year, only his colleagues were mentioned.
A fact-check on this, however, revealed that only one of the nine leading broadsheets in Metro Manila failed to mention his name.
Marcoleta said that perhaps his name will be mentioned by Cagayan de Oro-based journalists once reports come out on his presence as keynote speaker of the country’s oldest active media organization. The LTFRB deliberations, he said, was just one of the congressional hearings that was covered by media where his name was left out in the news.
Veteran broadcaster Frank Mendez, who heads the over-a-hundred-member strong COPC, said Marcoleta must be credited for his persuasive skills that convinced majority of his colleagues to junk the petition of ABS-CBN for the renewal of its franchise.
COPC immediate past president Manuel Jaudian, one of the country’s respected criminology experts, introduced Marcoleta who, he said, as SAGIP Party-list representative in Congress may have the ultimate solution to the country’s poverty. SAGIP stands for Social Amelioration and Genuine Intervention on Poverty.
After Marcoleta’s talk, program host and COPC director Annaliza Reyes of Radio Mindanao Network’s Cagayan de Oro-based DXCC, raised the question “Gusto niya ba si Marcoleta sa Senado? (Do you want Marcoleta in the Senate)” twice. In both instances, she could not generate a resounding answer from the audience that included media practitioners from nearby Iligan and Valencia cities.
Later, when asked in a question-and-answer portion, the two-termer SAGIP Party-list representative, who has been enjoying the backing of the country’s most sought political endorser Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) religious group said, “Eh, kung mag-number 2 or 3 tayo sa survey, bakit hindi? Pero kung nasa pang 22 tayo, eh ‘wag na lang.”
(Well, if we are number 2 or 3 in surveys, why not? Better not if we’re only ranked 22nd.)