Crony Capitalism Reprised? Looking into the ABS-CBN Issue and Uy

The president’s verbal attacks against ABS-CBN had not triggered the kind of coverage of a major threat to press freedom in the Philippines (See link: “A lack of media attention: Duterte’s threat against ABS-CBN”). But his recent statements suggest that the closure of this giant media enterprise also reflects a pattern of cronyism under the Duterte regime. 

After repeatedly threatening to put the country’s biggest network out of business, the president may have revealed the real reason behind his bizarre fixation on the network giant. On December 30, he said, “Itong ABS, mag-expire ang contract ninyo. Magrenew kayo, ewan ko lang kung may mangyari diyan. Kung ako sa inyo, ipagbili ‘nyo na ‘yan (ABS-CBN, your contract will expire. You want to renew, but I don’t know if that will happen. If I were you, I’d sell it).” 

Cheers to the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Interaksyon for looking into the possible link between President Rodrigo Duterte’s most recent tirade against ABS-CBN network and his top campaign financier Dennis Uy. 

The president had earlier said that he would “see to it” that ABS-CBN’s legislative franchise would not be renewed after it expires on March 30. But this was the first time he had ever mentioned the idea of the sale. 

The sudden shift in his tone should have prompted the media to look into the possibility of a crony takeover of the network. As early as December 10, there had already been reports that Uy was eyeing it. But the media only picked up on this lead after he denied any interest in it. The media nevertheless failed to call attention to Uy’s growing business empire. Neither did they recall the contentious third telco deal awarded to the Mislatel consortium primarily owned by Uy. 

In the sea of media reports that merely repeated Duterte’s rant, the Inquirer’s December 31 report promptly followed up on the idea of a sale. Reporter Julie Aurelio noted that since the president came to power, Udenna, Uy’s holding company, has quickly expanded into several business areas including oil product distribution, the convenience store business, shipping and logistics, property development and leasing and even educational institutions and restaurants. It has also branched out into infrastructure, tourism and gaming. Just recently, Uy also acquired Chevron’s large stake in the Malampaya gas-to-power project.

A report by Interaksyon also looked into this link, adding that Uy’s newly formed media company is expected to be “in close synergy” with his telecommunications company that is in partnership with China Telecommunications Corp. or China Telecom.

The issue of crony ownership is also a press freedom issue. Owners often have a stake in the content that news organizations produce and their interests influence reporting, analysis and comment. The media should be paying attention to this threat to ABS-CBN’s independence. But despite the danger faced by one of its own, only the Inquirer and Interaksyon did.