Help businesses improve instead of threatening them, says House leader

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has the power to compel telecommunications firms to improve their services and the government should help them improve instead of threatening to shut them down, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

According to House of Representatives Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr., the government should work hand in hand with companies to better public services in the country.

"As I said in my Kontra SONA, the NTC already has the means to compel telcos to improve their services," he said in a mobile message.

In his SONA earlier this week, Duterte threatened dominant telecommunications firms Globe Telecom Inc. and Smart Communications Inc. to improve their services by December, else risk having their properties expropriated by the government or be shut down.

"Kindly improve the services before December. I want to call Jesus Christ to Bethlehem. Better have that line cleared," Duterte said.

In response, Globe said it will heed the order, as it noted that it has earmarked $1.2 billion for its capital expenditure this year alone.

PLDT Inc., the parent company of Smart, in March said it will hike its capital expenditure program to P83 billion this year, but slashed this down to P60 billion in May following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease.

The company has yet to release a statement in response to the SONA, but announced the rollout of its commercial 5G services starting Thursday, July 30.

"At this point, it is premature to compare what happened to ABS and the action that will be taken on the telcos. Simple lang message natin sa NTC: just do it," Abante said.

Earlier this month, a House of Representatives panel voted to deny the network's franchise application, even as several government agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) maintained that the broadcaster had no violations.

President Rodrigo Duterte had been consistent in threatening to oppose the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise, as he earlier claimed the network did not air political advertisements during the 2016 election campaign which were already paid for.

In February, ABS-CBN president and chief executive officer Carlo Katigbak apologized for the unaired political ads of Duterte. This was accepted by Duterte two days later, as he said he would not interfere with the franchise renewal process in Congress.

"In any case, in this new normal, government and business needs to work together. I think the government should help the telcos succeed instead of just threatening and scaring them away," Abante said.

"This includes removing roadblocks in the local governments and private properties for the telcos to improve their services, for example in putting up needed cellular towers," he added.

Business groups such as the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) and the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) earlier warned that Duterte's threats could dampen investor sentiment.

"Naghihikahos na business and economy natin. Magtulungan tayo. 'Wag mag takutan," Abante said. —LDF, GMA News