Demonstrators in front of ABS-CBN headquarters in Quezon City last February. Photo: Gigie Cruz, ABS-CBN News ith the National Telecommunications Commission's (NTC) cease and desist order ABS-CBN's 23 radio stations and 42 television stations nationwide will have to go off the air by midnight tonight. In a CNN Philippines news article, the broadcast network founded in 1946 stated that "ABS-CBN remains committed to being in the service of the Filipino and we will find ways to continue providing meaningful service to them." The order came after Solicitor General Jose Calida warned NTC commissioners they can be slapped with graft charges if they decide to follow through with the promise to grant the network a provisional authority to operate while Congress still deliberates on its congressional franchise. Calida had said there is no basis for the NTC to grant ABS-CBN a provisional permit as there is no law which delegates to the regulatory body the power of Congress to grant legislative franchises.. Palawan 1st District Rep. Franz Alvarez, who chairs the House Committee on Legislative Franchises, slammed Calida for "pressuring" the NTC to issue a cease and desist order instead of a provisional permit. It was Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte himself who fired the opening salvo by when he complained that the network failed to air his political ads during his presidential bid. According to a recent Aljazeera article, "Since becoming president in June 2016, Duterte has repeatedly expressed his disdain towards the television network, which is owned by one of the richest families in the Philippines ... On many occasions, the president has threatened to block the renewal of the network's franchise, while suggesting that the owners should sell the company to break the impasse. At the same time, he insisted that his hand-picked leaders in Congress were free to decide on the issue." A Bloomberg article on December 30, 2019, quoted the president as saying, "your contract is expiring. I'm not sure what will happen if you renew ... If I were you, I would just sell." Duterte's detractors quickly point out that the prime beneficiary to all this might be China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Chinese, through local intermediaries, could acquire the country's largest broadcaster for pennies on the dollar and instantly gain a significant media presence all over the archipelago. Given the current administration's seeming bias for Chinese investments, It would come as no surprise if a local firm with Chinese backing, ends up owning ABS-CBN. And the stakes could not be higher—economically, as well as politically. Needless to say, whoever owns ABS-CBN will be able to exert undue influence over the Filipino people. The United Nations just celebrated World Press Freedom Day last Sunday. The question is, with the ABS-CBN now silenced, will there be any press freedom left for Filipinos to celebrate? Published 5/5/2020