ESDA Revolution. n.d. Radio Republic. Radio Republic. Web. 3 Nov. 2016. <http://www.radiorepublic.ph/edsa-revolution-songs/>. After Benigno Aquino was assassinated in 1983, the Marcos Administration began to slip. On February 24, 1986, the EDSA revolt occurred. MBS-4, a government controlled network, held a news conference in Malacanang (Matutina). It was then took over by rebel forces and Jake Almeda Lopez, the former general manager of ABS-CBN (Anastacio and Badiola). Anastacio and Badiola said that one by one, political figures gave their speeches on air. Upon the success of overthrowing Marcos, freedom was back. Philippine Commission of Good Government (PCGC) ordered the release of BBC 2 frequencies to the Lopezes (Matutina). Matutina added that Eugenio Lopez Jr. returned from exile and ABS-CBN was back on air after 14 years of forced leave. On November of 1986, the new president Cory Aquino formally announces the re-launch of ABS-CBN (Anastacio and Badiola).
The Marcos Administration was always attacked by the media. In his time, media was seen as the prime enemy of his administration, and to avoid further propaganda, Marcos established the Martial Law. His first letter of instruction was to take all media forms, every form of media was closed down, except for the ones that the government controlled. In the case of ABS-CBN, the son of its founder, Eugenio Lopez Sr., Eugenio “Geny” Lopez Jr. was even arrested for alleged treason and took all the establishments of ABS-CBN. In Chito S. Roño’s Eskapo, the story of Eugenio Lopez Jr. played by Christopher de Leon and his affiliation with Sergio Osmeña III played by Richard Gomez was revealed. The story starts with the imposition of the Martial Law in September 1972, Eugenio “Geny” Lopez Jr. was arrested along with Sergio “Serge” Osmena III. Marcos accused both parties for treason, he claimed that Lopez and Osmena was part of a group that planned to assassinate the president. However, Lopez and Osmena did not know each other personally and is believed to be innocent. Back in 1945, Fernando Lopez, the brother of Eugenio Lopez Sr. was the Mayor in Cebu City and in 1947, he won as a senator (Oaminal n.p). Oaminal adds that his political career was sponsored by Elpidio Quirino, and even won as the Vice President to Quirino in 1949 after Manuel Roxas died and unsuccessfully finished his term. Furthermore, he explains that in 1965, Ferdinand Lopez ran once again, but along with Marcos as the president, who challenged Macapagal to run in the same position. However, Macapagal and his vice president, Roxas, lost. The affiliation of Vice President Lopez to ABS-CBN, media that attacks Marcos administration is considered as a reason for Geny Lopez and Serge Osmena’s arrest. Moreover, another reason would be the father of Geny Lopez, Eugenio Lopez Sr., was politically opposed to Marcos during the 1969 elections. He was even part of the ambush during 1971 in Plaza Miranda while running a rally against Ferdinand Marcos. On the other hand, the father of Serge, Sergio Osmena II, was also running against Marcos during 1969 elections as well. Since both of their fathers were overseas, Geny and Serge were the ones detained inside Malacanang, then moved to a Maximum Security Unit in Fort Bonifacio during the year 1972. With the promise of Ferdinand Marcos to Eugenio Lopez Sr. of releasing his son in exchange for ABS-CBN, Meralco, the Manila Chronicle and almost all of their businesses, Lopez approved but was unaware of Marcos’ betrayal. Ambassador Roberto Benedicto, owner of Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS) took over ABS-CBN and was reopened as Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation in the same year when Martial Law was declared (Anastacio and Badiola). In 1974, two years after detention, Geny Lopez started a hunger strike that was followed by Serge Osmena. The hunger strike was a success to free most of the prisoners, although both Lopez and Osmena were not released and remained in Fort Bonifacio. After some time, Osmena was now the one double-crossed by Marcos. Media released that he pleads guilty on the accusations. After being held captive for 5 years, Lopez and Osmena planned their escape to America and were successful. In 1946, a Jewish-American major in the United States Army named James Lidenberg set up a shop that assembled electronic transmitting equipment and named his company, Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC) (Gomez, n.p). Gomez adds that it was the first television franchise in the Philippines. However, the scarcity of materials led to the expansion of radio franchising instead (Anastacio and Badiola). BEC workers. n.d. XiaoChua. XiaoChua. Web. 3 Nov. 2016. <https://xiaochua.net>. Anastacio and Badiola added that in 1952, Judge Tony Quirino, the brother of the 6th president of the Philippines, bought 70% of BEC’s stocks, but, prior to that, he first tried to get a license from the congress to establish a television station and was denied due to political reasons. It led him in co-partnering with James Lidenberg and renamed BEC to Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) (Gomez n.p). ABS building. n.d. XiaoChua. XiaoChua. Web. 3 Nov. 2016. <https://xiaochua.net>. Gomez added that in 1953, Tony Quirino opened DZAQ-TV, named after himself, Antonio “Tony” Quirino. Before its initial telecast, TV sets had to be imported and four people were trained in America with the help of the Radio Corporation of America (Anastacio and Badiola). Anastacio and Badiola added that in the same year of October 23, the first telecast brought by the DZAQ-TV was held in the Quirino Residence that featured the 6th president Elpidio Quirino and his party. DZAQ-TV starts regular telecast. n.d. Ten Minutes. Ten Minutes. Web. 3 Nov. 2016. <http://tenminutes.ph/10-surprising-things-you-probably-dont-know-about-our-heroes/>. In 1957, Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN) was formed by Eugenio Lopez Sr. as the president and Fernando Lopez as the Vice-president of the company (Gomez n.p). CBN Logo. n.d. XiaoChua. XiaoChua. Web. 3 Nov. 2016. <http://xiaochua.net>. Gomez said that they established the second television network in the Philippines, DZXL-TV. A year later, the Lopez’ bought ABS from Quirino and Lidenberg (Anastacio and Badiola). Anastacio and Badiola added that it was only after 10 years that ABS-CBN was legally and officially merged. Evolution of ABS-CBN nucleus logo. n.d. XiaoChua. XiaoChua. Web. 3 Nov. 2016. <http://xiaochua.net>. In the year 1967, the first marathon election coverage was held (Matutina). Matutina said that halalan ‘67 airs results and updates for 36 hours straight. In the following year, ABS-CBN began to use live satellite transmissions from abroad showing the funeral of Robert Kennedy and U.S. presidential elections. From then on, telecasts of political events were popularized. It was just in the following year that news and public affairs programs boomed (Matutina). The popular news program on ABS-CBN was World Tonight anchored by Tina-Monzon Palma, Gigi Grande and Ron Cruz (Anastacio and Badiola). Anastacio and Badiola claimed that broadcasting in the Philippines was the freest from government control in the world before the Marcos Era. Freedom of restriction was unrestricted to the extent that no public figure can escape the revelations of media.
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