It is now, four years after it happened, that I’ve finally made peace with what it means for one of the largest networks in the country to lose its franchise. ABS-CBN has, and continues to have, a place very dear to my heart. And I can’t say I was totally blindsided by the events of May 5, 2020. Unknown to most, the seeds were sown long before Mayor Digong ever thought about running for President — and I watched it happen from inside two worlds that were about to collide. How the ABS-CBN Franchise Fight Actually Started Here’s something most retrospectives on the ABS-CBN shutdown get wrong: this didn’t start with Duterte. The renewal process actually began under President Noynoy Aquino, all the way back