Largest Philippine Broadcaster Asks Top Court to Halt Closure

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The Philippines’ largest media company has asked the country’s top court to halt a government order shutting its television and radio stations.

ABS-CBN Corp. also asked the Supreme Court to set aside the telecommunications commission’s May 5 closure order which the network said was issued without due process and violates freedom of speech, its news website said on Twitter.

Often a target of President Rodrigo Duterte’s criticism, the broadcaster has said it followed the law. The president will remain neutral on the issue and will let Congress decide on ABS-CBN’s permit, his spokesman Harry Roque said.

The shutdown order, issued a day after the broadcaster’s franchise expired, covered more than 20 radio stations and over 50 TV stations with some 11,000 employees.

Trading in ABS-CBN’s shares has been halted since Wednesday.

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