PCP stands with ABS-CBN

Media workers and supporters gather outside ABS-CBN on Valentine's Day to demand the franchise renewal of the network. Photo by Bernice Beltran/PCP

The Photojournalists' Center of the Philippines is stunned by the developments regarding the issuance from the National Telecommunications Commission of a cease and desist order on ABS-CBN to broadcast on air.

We are stunned by the callousness of depriving the Filipino people of a public information channel in these trying times. We are stunned by the outright indifference to the people's need for information and services in the middle of this COVID-19 crisis.

Most of all, we are stunned by the lack of sensitivity of this administration to the basic needs of the people that the media has managed to surface and even address after we all held arms together no matter what group or party we belong to.

We in the media have been foregoing our own safety to be able to cover the COVID-19 crisis so that valuable information can be disseminated. For the government to cancel the franchise of ABS-CBN in the middle of this crisis is a wanton disregard for the interest of the public.

We stand by ABS-CBN! We stand by the Filipino people.