Former Senator Manny Villar, the soon to be a media tycoon after the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC), had granted the Advanced Media Broadcasting System (AMBS) the ABS-CBN frequencies, Channel 2 and 16.   

The NTC stated that the decision to transfer the channel was backed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Department of Justice, and the Office of the President.

The agency allowed the Villar-owned company to install, operate, and maintain a digital television broadcasting television in Metro Manila until the analog shut-off in 2023 through their press release on Tuesday night.

According to the NTC, AMBS has been waiting for available digital TV frequency since 2006 after undergoing a quasi-judicial process. AMBS was granted a Provisional Authority after the determination of its legal, technical and financial qualification.

Manny and his wife Cynthia Villar are allies of the Duterte Administration, and have supported the president in his 2016 campaign. In return, Mark Villar was appointed as the Secretary of Public Works and Highways and now running for 2022 elections under the PDP-Laban Cusi faction.

The former senator spent 21 years in politics, and revealed that he does not miss entering politics anymore. “I got poorer after politics,” he added in the Forbes Global CEO Conference in 2015.

After losing the Presidential candidacy in 2010, Villar never sought to run again for public office. President Duterte said that he will support the businessman if he ran a second time for presidency.

Former standard-bearer of Nationalista said in an interview with Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, March 15, 2012, that his biggest loss in the 2010 Elections is his reputation and name, not the billions of money he spent in the campaign.

Photo Credit: Facebook/mannyvillar