I've been reading stories about how the government now wants to take over ABS-CBN after denying its franchise renewal. This made me remember what happened to RPN-9 and IBC-13 after the EDSA Revolution.

As y'all know, RPN and IBC were sequestered by the government from Marcos cronies. As of 2020, only 20% of RPN is owned by government while IBC is still govt controlled under the PCOO.

I think it's important to mention that RPN technically had no assets. It "rented" facilities and equipment from IBC, which owned Broadcast City in QC.

Since the Cory administration, various people were appointed to manage the stations. Needless to say, both companies were mismanaged and from being high earners, they came close to bankruptcy.

My mother was a former RPN employee. She used to tell us that it was a different company pre-EDSA. They had full benefits and the station was earning well. All that changed after EDSA.

I personally know people who were offered "early retirement" packages and employees who were laid off. When my mom retired, she did not get the full retirement benefits she was entitled to because there was simply no more money.

So it's not really a surprise that my mom & her colleagues have resentment after EDSA. If the post EDSA administrations wanted to punish Marcos and their cronies, how come it was the employees who suffered?

A part of Broadcast City was sold to a condominium developer (this news broke my heart since I spent a significant part of my early childhood there).

I can't help but draw similarities between what's happening to ABS-CBN now vs what happened to RPN & IBC. You can argue about the differences in intentions but the bottomline is that it is always the regular people who suffer and bear the consequences.

Di ko alam kung bakit mo pinasok ang GMA7 dito pero fyi lang, there was no change of ownership after 1986. "Uncle Bob" Stewart and ABC turned over ownership to Duavit, Jimenez, & Gozon in 1974(?). In 1984, Imee Marcos attempted to get GMA from them but didn't succeed.

And my point, since you obviously missed it, is that government take-over of media companies (or probably any privately owned companies for that matter) can easily turn gold to shit. It is the employees who always bear the consequences.