THE Congress of the Philippines, through a committee of the House of Representatives, denied on Friday, July 10, 2020, media giant ABS-CBN Corp.’s application for the renewal of the franchise it needed to continue its operations. Committee members voted 70-11 in favor of non-renewal of the franchise.

Partisans, especially those who steered the public hearings that appeared to have provided the basis for the denial, made a grand show of it in these pandemic times, as if the lives of people depended on the negative decision.