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Abante files bill seeking to abolish NTC


House Minority Leader Benny Abante Jr. has filed a measure seeking to abolish the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for being a "useless" agency.

In House Bill 6701, Abante proposed to amend RA 7925, or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act, by abolishing the NTC and transferring its powers and functions to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

All assets, including the existing appropriation and monies allocated to the NTC will likewise be transferred to the DICT, and the department secretary may also authorize the sale of these properties through public bidding, negotiated sale, lease or any other form of divestment or transmission of rights.

Abante announced his intention to have the NTC abolished during his privilege speech on Wednesday, saying that he has long been thinking of getting rid of the commission as it is a "useless" agency.

"Our NTC, supposedly in charge of regulating and promoting the telecommunications industry has turned out to be one of the most inept and useless agencies whose only relevance lies in being another model for sheer wastage of taxpayer money," he said.

"Its failure all these years to invoke sanctions against the companies poorly serving the people’s telecommunications needs is a perfect reason to abolish it already," he added.

Sought for comment, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said, "That’s up to Congress."

Abante filed his bill Wednesday, a day after the NTC issued a cease and desist order against the continued operations of ABS-CBN, which he described as a "slap in the face of Congress and an outright act of defiance."

He recalled that both houses of Congress have moved to allow the continuous operation of ABS-CBN, with the House by writing to the NTC and the Senate passing a resolution calling on the commission to issue a provisional authority to operate on ABS-CBN.

He added that when NTC asked for the legal opinion of the Department of Justice, it said to the effect that there is basis for ABS-CBN to be given the authority to continue operating.

This opinion was even used by the NTC in committing under oath during a March 10 House legislative franchises panel hearing that it will grant a provisional authority to the TV network, the lawmaker pointed out.

Eventually, no provisional authority was issued and the NTC instead ordered ABS-CBN on Tuesday to cease its broadcast operations on Tuesday.

"The NTC should be abolished and its functions and powers be transferred to the DICT where it can be better exercised and hopefully be more responsive to the needs of our changing times," Abante said.

Several lawmakers have been issuing calls on the House leadership to immediately deliberate on the ABS-CBN franchise issue, which further amplified after the shutting down of the network's broadcast operations.

House Committee on Legislative Franchises chair Franz Alvarez, however, is supposedly still waiting for the directive of the House leadership on the conduct of the hearings, said panel member Ako Bicol party-list Representative Alfredo Garbin Jr.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano has yet to make comment on the newest developments on the ABS-CBN franchise issue. — with Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News

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