ANSWER: A World Without ABS-CBN:
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The Liquidation push by one board member: The November attempt to gut ABS-CBN and sell it for parts to corporate looters and corporate marauders thru a proposed liquidation: SUCCESSFULLY THWARTED by those who value service to the nation. It was not going to be a shutdown – liquidation is worse than a shutdown
On the November attempt to liquidate ABS-CBN as proposed by one board director of its holding company Lopez Inc. (L.I.) holding 29% shares and resisted by the board of directors holding 71% shares — some notes:
(instead of using nicknames and full names, we will just refer to the liquidation-proponent as “the 29% shareholder-director” to avoid engaging in personalities —
— unlike the series let loose in the past weeks which included character assassination and ad hominem attacks against the 71% L.I. board directors who have been involved in successfully stewarding ABS-CBN.) :
Liquidation of a corporation is not a mere shutdown as being depicted in posts in social media – it is something worse than a shutdown.
You might ask, what can be “something worse” than a shutdown?
As a background: The ABS-CBN was shuttered in 2020 by Duterte supporters in the NTC and in Congress after Duterte publicly vowed he will stop at nothing to shut down ABS-CBN , first, with the arbitrary and illegal May 5 shutdown by NTC
(see the Justice Marvic Leonen concurring and dissent in ABS-CBN vs. NTC where he elucidated on the illegality of the May 5 summary shutdown for being violative of the right to administrative due process and violative of the NTC Circular itself granting a grace period pending renewal deliberations in Congress);
and second, the subsequent non-renewal of the franchise in July where ABS-CBN was treated differently from all the dozens of breezy franchise renewals happenng every year.
This left the field of free TV dominated by religious sects network (majority of free TV channels in the Philippines are run by religious sects – only in the Philippines).
But what can be worse than a shutdown?
Liquidation.
On liquidation of the corporation: The 29% shareholder-director of L.I. is demanding for liquidation of ABS-CBN, or, more likely: Sell ABS-CBN for parts until nothing is left of it. Expose it to corporate looters and corporate marauders and sell it in pieces until nothing is left of it. Nothing.
In the corporate world, if a corporation has obligations to pay, interested buyers, corporate looters and corporate marauders, will bid only for the valuable parts – its valuable assets – and not the entire corporation. Because if they buy the entire corporation, they inherit the obligations that have to be paid.
Corporate looters will buy the most valuable assets of ABS-CBN: The Brand itself, the ABS-CBN Brand, a household name built upon service to the nation. Arguably, there is no more valuable brand in the media landscape even today than the ABS-CBN brand. (i said “arguably” kasi kaibigan din naman natin ang mga Kapuso at Kapatid 🙂 )
Corporate looters are pacing and prowling in the background preparing to pounce to loot the ABS-CBN brand,
the intellectual property (content) of its most popular shows and programs piece by piece,
the content-creators (producers),
the writers and creatives department,
and its most bankable stars and talents —
— leaving the entire remaining ABS-CBN workforce retrenched, without a job (zero) and the corporate shell still saddled with obligations,
leaving hanging in the balance, maybe, the news department,
leaving in uncertainty the identity of the hostile forces that would control the ABS-CBN brand and content for its own interests in the run-up to 2028.
Selling ABS-CBN for parts is like, likening it to nothing more than, — for the 29% shareholder-director-proponent — a “liability”-like a dilapidated-used-useless old car to be sold for parts.
Wait, i’m better with how the street mechanic would put it: Para bang ang tingin sa ABS-CBN ng gustong mag-liquidate nito ay isa itong sirang-sirȃ kinakalawang kakarag-karag pumupugák-pugák na kotse na nalalaglag na mga gulong — at kakahuyin na lang.
Yun po ang ibig sabihin ng liquidation: Kakahuyin. “Kakahuyin” is a Filipino idiomatic word, it means to gut it into parts and sell it in pieces, until nothing is left of it.
Tatadtarin para ibenta ang mga piraso.
(to be continued)
