MANILA (UPDATE) - A lawmaker on Friday urged House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to refrain from absolving himself and blaming others for the shutdown of ABS-CBN Corp over its franchise renewal that stalled due to Congress inaction.

Cayetano earlier Friday said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) "succumbed to pressure" from Solicitor General Jose Calida when it forced the country's largest media network off air a day after its franchise expired.

"It is utterly pretentious for Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to say that the passage of the franchise renewal will now be prioritized in order to 'fix the mess' which others made," Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman said in a statement.

"Cayetano himself made the mess by blindly kowtowing to President Rodrigo Duterte’s repeated personal opposition to the renewal which unduly stalled the approval of the extension," he added.

• Cayetano: NTC 'ambushed us' with ABS-CBN closure, 'succumbed' to SolGen pressure

Cayetano earlier said it was "not that urgent" to tackle the franchise bills of ABS-CBN, home to 11,000 workers, because it could operate until 2022.

This, as President Rodrigo Duterte, with whom Cayetano ran in his failed 2016 vice presidential bid, had earlier repeatedly vowed to shut the network down, even at one point urging its owners to just sell the company.

The Speaker "cited his own personal grievances against ABS-CBN to justify his temporizing on the consideration of the 12 pending bills for renewal," said Lagman.

"Cayetano must not wash his hands and absolve himself of blame at the expense of others. Admitting one’s fault is an earmark of true leadership," he said.

Some senators, meanwhile, posted indirect comments on social media.

"'Yung frequent handwashing, dapat ginagamit panlaban sa COVID-19, hindi para umiwas sa political accountability," Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in a tweet, using the hashtag #DefendPressFreedom.

Yung frequent handwashing, dapat ginagamit panlaban sa COVID-19, hindi para umiwas sa political accountability. 🧼🤷🏻‍♀️ #DefendPressFreedom

— risa hontiveros (@risahontiveros) May 8, 2020

Sen. Nancy Binay tweeted a photo of Pontius Pilate, a governor of the Roman province of Judaea who was known for distancing himself from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

"Reminds you of who?" Binay wrote in the caption.

Reminds you of who ? #BeNice ☻ pic.twitter.com/nfHbCDteWY

— Senator Nancy Binay (@SenatorBinay) May 8, 2020

Senate President Vicente Sotto III earlier said that it was up to the House to pass ABS-CBN's franchise renewal bill which has been languishing in the Committee of Legislative Franchises since 2014.

"ABS Franchise, bring it to the Senate, we will approve it!" Sotto said earlier this week.

• 'We will approve it!': Sotto says ABS-CBN franchise renewal should be brought to Senate

The House of Representatives still has not scheduled hearings on the ABS-CBN franchise bills.

The National Telecommunications Commission, a day after ABS-CBN's franchise expired, ordered the network on Tuesday to stop its operations and explain within 10 days why its broadcast frequency should not be recalled.

The move came just days after Calida sent a letter to the NTC pressing it to issue a cease and desist order against the 65-year-old media outfit and threatening of possible graft charges if it instead issued provisional authority.

• Calida pressed NTC to issue cease and desist order vs ABS-CBN, document shows

A swift extension of ABS-CBN's franchise by Congress will render "moot and academic" its petition for the Supreme Court to halt the order of NTC, said Lagman.

Cayetano on Friday said congressmen would conduct "fair, impartial, thorough, and comprehensive" hearings on the ABS-CBN franchise.

He did not say when.

news.abs-cbn.com is the official news website of ABS-CBN Corp.