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DOJ: Congress may authorize NTC to allow ABS-CBN to operate pending franchise renewal


Congress may authorize the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to allow ABS-CBN to continue operating if its franchise would expire before lawmakers could act on its application for renewal, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, whom the NTC asked for a legal opinion on the ABS-CBN case, said Congress may allow the NTC to issue a "provisional authority" for the network's continued operations until Congress could act on the franchise renewal bills.

ABS-CBN was granted a 25-year legislative franchise in 1995. The license is due to expire on May 4, according to Guevarra.

Congress has yet to act on several bills seeking its renewal, raising questions on whether the network can keep airing if its franchise lapses pending congressional action.

"It is therefore respectfully submitted that the Congress, by concurrent resolutions, may authorize the National Telecommunications Commission to issue a provisional authority subject to such terms and conditions as the NTC may deem fit to ABS-CBN and other entities who are similarly situated, authorizing them to continue operating subject to the Congress' eventual disposition of the renewal application," Guevarra said during a Senate hearing.

A resolution, he later said, would provide a legal basis for continued operations that in previous cases were only based on letters or memoranda of understanding between authorities and the companies.

"Parang napaka-informal ng mga pinagbabasehan nila, parang intindihan lang," he said, noting that it became a "practice" because no one complained.

At the Senate hearing, he cited PT&T, Smart Communications Inc., and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Inc. as examples of entities that were "allowed to operate despite expired franchises as long as the application for the renewal of these franchises were lodged with the Congress before the lapse of their term."

"The grant of a franchise is an exercise of sovereign power and under our Constitution, that power is vested in the Congress," Guevarra said.

"By necessary implication, such power of Congress also includes the power to prescribe the rights of a franchisee applicant pending final determination of the renewal of its franchise by the Congress."

Despite his statement, Guevarra later told reporters the DOJ was declining the NTC's request for a legal opinion because a private company is involved and would not be bound by the department's advice.

He said his statement was "the signal to everyone concerned, including the NTC."

Withdraw anytime?

Upon hearing Guevarra's position, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon asked the NTC if a provisional authority to operate could be withdrawn anytime.

"Considering there is no more franchise, since it has already lapsed, then we can withdraw the provisional authority anytime, but subject to conditions," NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said.

Drilon said the authority should not be administrative in nature such that it could be withdrawn anytime "because of its implications on press freedom, on editorial content, of the franchise holder."

For his part, Senator Francis Pangilinan asked if the NTC had ever withdrawn a provisional authority.

Cordoba said: "Wala pa po, your honor."

Senator Ralph Recto asked the NTC if it would give ABS-CBN a provisional authority to operate.

"Based on the advice of the Department of Justice then we would be able to do that, subject to the resolution [of Congress]," Cordoba said.

Cordoba explained that the NTC had not issued a provisional authority to other entities in the past but did not close them down.

If the commission would not allow ABS-CBN to continue operations, Cordoba said they would have to issue a cease-and-desist order.

The commissioner said ABS-CBN has no penalties from the NTC. "As of now, Your Honor, wala naman. No penalties."

One of the country's leading media companies, ABS-CBN employs around 11,000 people.  — RSJ, LDF, GMA News

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