House request ‘enough’ for NTC to allow ABS-CBN to operate past franchise expiration — Guevarra

The House franchise committee's request for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to allow ABS-CBN to operate past the expiration of its franchise is sufficient, but a similar Senate move would bolster the authorization, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara said Wednesday.

The House Committee on Legislative Franchises has formally requested the NTC to grant ABS-CBN a provisional authority to operate once its franchise expires and until the House of Representatives decides on the network's franchise renewal application.

Enacted in 1995, ABS-CBN's existing franchise expires on May 4.

"The authorization from the House franchise committee is enough for NTC purposes," Guevarra said in a message to reporters.

"But a similar resolution from the Senate will provide a tougher armor to the NTC in the event of a legal challenge," he added.

Guevarra earlier suggested that Congress, through a concurrent resolution, may authorize the NTC to issue ABS-CBN a provisional authority to operate if its franchise expires before lawmakers could decide pending bills seeking its renewal.

While other similarly situated organizations were allowed to continue operating in the past, Guevarra said this was an informal practice. He said a concurrent resolution would give this custom legal basis.

"From a legal standpoint, that's substantially better than mere customary practice or established precedents," he said of the House committee's letter.

The House committee letter also urges the NTC to issue the same provisional authority to operate to ABS-CBN's subsidiaries and/or affiliates whose franchise applications are also pending with the House panel, namely ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc., Sky Cable Corporation, and Amcara Broadcasting Network, Inc.

“As we have been saying from the start, since ABS-CBN will be allowed to continue its broadcast while we are hearing their renewal, there is no urgency that would justify a hasty proceeding. We want to be sure that this matter is given the importance it deserves," Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said.

The NTC requested the Department of Justice for a legal opinion on the ABS-CBN case, but Guevarra said they were declining because a private entity was involved.

He said he sent the DOJ's reply to the commission on Wednesday afternoon. — RSJ, GMA News