Screenwriters guild condemn Anti-Terrorism Bill, ABS-CBN shutdown

A newly-formed group of movie and TV writers criticized the Duterte administration on Monday, August 4 for both the passage of the the Anti-Terrorism Law and the shutdown of media giant ABS-CBN.

Using the hashtag #MayBosesAko, the Filipino Screenwriters Guild denounced the Anti-Terrorism Bill, saying it “seeks to curtail the very core of all writers, our freedom of speech.”

“We refuse to be blind accomplices to and enablers of propaganda,” the group said.

They also hit the government for the “brutal shutdown” of ABS-CBN. The network went off air in May after its Congressional franchise expired. A House committee eventually rejected ABS-CBN appeal for a new franchise on July 10.

“We sympathize with our colleagues left jobless by this pandemic, their voices falling on the deaf ears of the agency tasked to protect the interests of the industry and its people.”

The group said that they stand with those who continue to be silenced by “those who seek to attack, weaken and break our fragile democracy.”

“Today, we reclaim our voice. And today, we begin a new story: of unity, resistance, and change. The new story of the Filipinos.”

President Rodrigo Duterte signed the controversial Anti-Terrorism Bill into law in July, despite opposition from various sectors. Several challenges to the law are pending before the Supreme Court.

The House committee on legislative franchises voted against the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, forcing the network to retrench many of its 11,000 employees.

ABS-CBN is the country’s largest media network with subsidiaries in television, radio, and online. – Rappler.com