ABS-CBN President and Chief Executive Officer Carlo Katigbak said only some local ads of then presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte were aired while all his national political ads were used by the network in 2016.

During the Senate hearing on the network's franchise renewal, Katigbak explained that the unaired advertisements occured because there are only two minutes of ad airtime per hour were allotted for local ads.

''President Duterte bought a total of P182 million worth of commercial slots for the network during the campaign period. About P117 million of the total payment were placed for national ads. While all national ads were aired, a P7 million out of the P65 million worth of local ads were not shown'', said Katigbak

"The President placed an order for P117 million worth of national ads, of which we aired all P117 million. In other words, a hundred percent of the President’s ads which were ordered for national airing were accommodated and broadcast and aired by the station," said Katigbak.

Katigbak, who admitted that the network had encountered problems in airing some local ads, said most spots for local ad airtime were purchased by May 3, 2016.

"Our policy on all our ads is first-come, first-serve. Many of these spots were ordered on May 3, and May 7 was the last day of the campaign period. There had been many previous telecast orders that came in ahead," he said.

ABS-CBN refunded an initial sum of P4 million to Duterte but the network had a delay in returning the remaining P2.6 million. Katigbak said Duterte refused to claim the delayed refund.

"On this issue, we acknowledge our shortcoming in our failure to release the refund in a timely manner," added Katigbak.

This is the first time ABS-CBN executives shed light on Duterte's past accusations that the network chose not to air his campaign ads despite receiving payment. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS