Opinion | The Philippines’ ABS-CBN network is again fighting to survive, 34 years after liberation from Marcos
- Rebel forces freed Southeast Asia’s oldest broadcast network from the clutches of Ferdinand Marcos’ regime on February 24, 1986
- Three decades later, Duterte’s administration is seeking to shut the broadcaster’s operations – unlike Marcos, he won’t need the military’s help
On February 24, 1986, rebel soldiers liberated the Philippines’ ABS-CBN Corporation from the brutal control of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. Now, 34 years later, Southeast Asia’s oldest private TV and radio network once again faces a threat to its existence.
Owned by the powerful Lopez family, the network was shut down and turned into a state propaganda arm on the night Marcos imposed martial law on September 22, 1972. The regime used ABS-CBN facilities to broadcast via MBS Channel 4 and Philippine News Agency.
According to then-Colonel Ramon Montaño: “We were organised into special task forces. The first order was to close the media.”
By the dictatorship’s own admission, 30,000 people were detained in the weeks that followed, including Geny Lopez Jnr, who was the network’s chairman and CEO as well as the nephew of Marcos’ own deputy, Fernando Lopez.
The Lopez family’s sugar land holdings were turned over to Marcos’ favourite generals. The family’s other corporate jewel, power distributor Meralco, was handed over to Imelda Marcos’ brother in return for a mere 10,000 pesos (US$196) and the release of Geny Lopez Jnr.
The Lopez clan and Marcos were by then politically estranged: Lopez Jnr was accused of plotting to assassinate Marcos, who expressed his loathing of the oligarch family in his diaries. Lopez Jnr was never released but escaped in 1977 and went into exile in the US.
The family regained control of ABS-CBN’s network facilities and Meralco in 1986, when the revolutionary government of Corazon Aquino took office. Rebel troops swooped in and wrested control of the facilities, abruptly cutting off Marcos midway through a broadcast.