[PODCAST] Law of Duterte Land: What is People's Initiative and will it work for ABS-CBN?

ABS-CBN is looking at a shutdown for the next two years or the remainder of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.

That is unless the wind direction changes.

But the direction of the wind cannot change fast enough for a group of people who launched a movement PIRMA Kapamilya.

They want to take matters into their own hands and pull off a rarely-exercised People’s Initiative to enact the law that will give ABS-CBN its franchise.

People’s Initiative is no easy feat. The first hurdle is a high mountain – signatures of at least 10% of all registered voters in the Philippines, and these need to be verified as authentic before the proposed law could be taken to a vote via a referendum.

There are also some legal questions about whether ABS-CBN’s franchise law falls under Republic Act 6735.

Past attempts at People’s Initiative have been for charter change.

In 2006, the Supreme Court promulgated the landmark decision Lambino vs Comelec which ruled that People’s Initiative cannot be used to make revisions on the Constitution. It was a narrowly decided vote, 8-7.

Would a People’s Initiative for ABS-CBN open doors to reversing Lambino vs Comelec?

We have PIRMA Kapamilya’s co-convenor Atty Eirene Jhone Aguila in this podcast episode.

Listen to past episodes: