After bringing down the Lopez family to their knees with the end of ABS-CBN’s media dominance, congressman Mike Defensor has vowed to deliver the “death blow” to their power “oligarchy.”
In a speech before the House committee voted 70-11 to kill ABS-CBN’s franchise, Defensor argued that ABS-CBN’s dominance was just a means to an end to the Lopezes’ alleged control of power plants providing electricity to Meralco’s millions of customers.
“History will show that if ever we vote to kill this franchise for violations of the Constitution and laws ,that we did service to our country by killing another oligarchy,” said Defensor.
The former Cabinet Secretary made it his personal quest to carry out President Rodrigo Duterte’s to snuff out oligarchs, with the Lopezes as his number one target.
“When the President mentioned that we should dismantle oligarchies in the Philippine, he is referring to the small group controlling our country, the future of each Filipino. Ang pangulo nagpapalit bawat anim na taon, ang kongresista nagpapalit bawat tatlong taon. Ang politika palit ng palit, pero ang malaking negosyante sa ating bansa ay patuloy na namamayagpag,” said Defensor.
“Pag nagsalita tayo ng bias, ang tinitingan natin ang malawakang impluwensya ng mass media sa kanilnag negosyo. Totoo ho, sa sitwasyon natin, marami hong negosyante kinonkontrol ang politika. Pero ibibigay mo ba ang pagkontrol ng mass media para itulak ang agenda at interes ng malalaking negosyante?” he added.
In the coming hearing of the House committee on good government on Wednesday, July 15, Defensor has vowed to take the lead in reviewing a couple of 25-year power supply agreements (ending in 2025 and 2027) signed between the Lopezes’ power plants and Meralco when it was still owned by the family in 1994 still owned the electricity distributor in 1995 and 1999.
The Lopezes sold their stake in Meralco to Salim-Metro Pacific group, along with the Gokongwei family, in 2010. Defensor claimed Meralco has no choice but to honor the supply contracts with the Lopez powerplants.
