Sen. Lito Lapid on Monday quizzed executives of ABS-CBN Corp. on how it irked President Rodrigo Duterte after the government moved to shut down the country's largest broadcaster.

The House of Representatives has yet to tackle several bills seeking the renewal of the media outlet's license to operate.

Earlier this month, the government's top lawyer also asked the Supreme Court to scrap ABS-CBN's franchise due to supposed violations.

"Kaya nahihirapan kayo ngayon... Ang dami namang nanghihingi ng prangkisa dito, doon lang tayo sa Recto Room. Pero dito, ang laki-laki ng coverage," Lapid said at a Senate committee hearing on ABS-CBN's franchise compliance.

(You are having difficulties. There are many others who apply for franchise, we just tackle it at the Recto Room. But here, the coverage of the franchise is so big.)

"Kaya tinatanong ko kung galit sa inyo ang Pangulong Duterte, ano iyon?" added the lawmaker, who had appeared for almost 2 years on ABS-CBN hit series "Ang Probinsyano."

(That's why I'm asking if he is mad at you, why is that?)

ABS-CBN Corp. Chairman Mark Lopez said the network could only infer on the President's sentiments from his public pronouncements.

"So far, hindi po namin alam talaga kung ano iyong mga galit ng Presidente sa ABS-CBN except po sa kung anong sinasabi niya sa mga speech niya tungkol sa ABS," he said.

(We don't really know the President's ill feelings towards ABS-CBN, except for his remarks from his speeches about ABS.)

Duterte has repeatedly accused the network of refusing to air his campaign in the 2016 elections.

The network aired all the national ads of Duterte, but some of his local ads could not be broadcast due to an airtime limit, ABS-CBN Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Carlo L. Katigbak said during the hearing.

He also denied insinuations of bias for airing negative ads paid for by then-Senator Antonio Trillanes IV that allegedly maligned Duterte.

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