THE House of Representatives on Monday gave the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) 72 hours to explain why it should not be cited in contempt for closing down ABS-CBN after assuring lawmakers that the network will be issued a provisional authority to operate.
The order was contained in a letter emailed to the NTC by Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez, chair of the House committee on legislative franchises. It was addressed to NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba, Deputy Commissioners Edgardo Cabarios and Delilah Deles, and legal branch head Ella Blanca Lopez.
Alvarez noted the assurance was given by Cordoba during a hearing of his committee on 10 March, “that the NTC will let the ABS-CBN Corporation continue its operations until Congress has finally disposed of the franchise renewal bills, consistent with precedents and practice and the position of the Department of Justice as well as the clear directive of the House of Representatives that ABS-CBN Corporation should be allowed to continue to operate until such time that Congress has made a decision on its application.”
Alvarez told the NTC officials that failure to comply with his order will result in a “finding against you for contempt of the House of Representatives and subject you to other actions that are within the powers of the House of Representatives to enforce.”
Once the House cites the officials in contempt, they will be ordered arrested and detained at the Batasang Pambansa.
“The act of the NTC constitutes undue interference on and disobedience to the exercise of the power of the House of Representatives, and therefore, an affront to its dignity and an inexcusable disrespect of its authority,” Alvarez said.
The House committee on legislative franchise has yet to schedule a hearing on the bills seeking to renew the television network’s franchise. The bills were supposed to be tackled this month but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted government operations.
Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin, a member of the minority bloc, urged the House leadership to intervene in the petition that ABS-CBN has filed before the Supreme Court “to protect the House’s interest and to comply with its constitutional mandate.”
“Intervention is a legal proceeding by which a third person is permitted by the court to become a party in a pending action after meeting the conditions and requirements set by the Rules of Court,” said the lawyer-lawmaker.
Last May 7, ABS-CBN filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition against the NTC challenging the NTC’s cease and desist order on May 5. The 25-year franchise given by Congress to the media giant expired on May 4.
Garbin said the NTC order “arrogates unto itself the House’s exclusive constitutional power to grant, extend, deny or revoke franchises.”
HOUSE PROBE SOUGHT
Presidential son Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte and other House leaders have filed a resolution seeking to investigate ABS-CBN for alleged violations of its franchise by “operating a pay-per-view channel through free-to-air signals.”
“By charging the public with this pay-per-view Kapamilya Box Office channel through ABS-CBN TV Plus, it has been gaining huge profits at the expense of the public while using the air frequencies provided by the government for free,” said House Resolution No. 853.
Other authors of HR. No. 853 are Cavite Rep. Abraham Tolentino, chair of the committee on accounts, and ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Yap, chair of the committee on appropriations.
They said ABS-CBN’s practice of granting a foreigner Philippine depository receipts is also a legal violation.
Allegations of franchise violations were first hurled against ABS-CBN in February by Solicitor General Jose Calida in a quo warranto petition he filed with the Supreme Court, seeking to revoke the network’s franchise. The day before ABS-CBN’s franchise expired, he warned the NTC against issuing a provisional authority to the network and said the commissioners risk graft charges.
RAFFLED
The petition for injunction filed by ABS-CBN before the Supreme Court against the cease and desist order was raffled on Monday but court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said he could not disclose the magistrate who will handle the case due to confidentiality rules.
“I just want to confirm that the new petition filed by ABS-CBN against NTC has been raffled already to a member-in-charge.But the results of the raffle is confidential due to internal rules of the Supreme Court,” Hosaka added.
The one who will handle the case will also be the one to make a recommendation to the Court en banc on the case.
Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno Jr. said the NTC should have issued first a show-cause order to ABS-CBN, in line with the requirement for procedural due process which would have give ABS-CBN the chance to explain its side.
“We hear ABS-CBN, Congress and the Solicitor General. That is the essence of procedural due process. We hear the other parties before we hear ourselves,”the former chief justice added.
He clarified he was not saying the NTC cease and order is void since the regulatory body has its own legal team.
The Senate on Monday adopted a resolution urging the NTC to reconsider its cease and desist order.
Twelve senators voted in favor of Resolution No. 395, citing previous instances when the NTC issued provisional authority to operate to networks while their franchise renewals were still being deliberated on in Congress.
The senators who voted in favor of adopting the resolution were Nancy Binay, Franklin Drilon, Sherwin Gatchalian, Richard Gordon, Risa Hontiveros, Emmanuel Lapid, Leila de Lima, Emmanuel Pacquiao, Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, Joel Villanueva, and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Nine senators abstained. They are Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Pia Cayetano, Christopher Go, Panfilo Lacson, Imee Marcos, Ramon Revilla Jr., Ronald dela Rosa, Francis Tolentino, and Cynthia Villar. They said it is better for the proper authorities to decide on the network’s franchise renewal. — With Ashzel Hachero and Raymond Africa
