Gadon withdraws petition to stop NTC from giving ABS-CBN permit

Lawyer Larry Gadon has withdrawn the petition he filed before the Supreme Court to stop the government from granting ABS-CBN a provisional authority to operate after the House of Representatives decided to hear the bills giving the network another 25-year franchise.

In a motion dated May 21, Gadon, who made a name by moving to impeach former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, said the "evil" sought to be prevented in the petition he filed on March 5 "no longer exists."

Gadon had urged the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order preventing the National Telecommunications Commission from complying with the House franchise committee's order for the issuance of a provisional authority in favor of the television network.

In his petition for prohibition, Gadon also asked the court to order House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and franchise committee chair Franz Alvarez to recall their letter to the NTC that contains this instruction, and to cease and desist from "pursuing the matters indicated" in the letter.

But last week, Cayetano himself announced that the House will proceed with deliberating on the bills granting ABS-CBN 25-year franchise through the House Committee on Legislative Franchises.

Earlier the House attempted to just grant ABS-CBN a provisional franchise until October 31, 2020, but the chamber's leadership eventually dropped it so they could focus on more pressing matters.

ABS-CBN has gone off air since May 5 after the NTC issued it a cease and desist order to stop its broadcast operations following the expiration of its franchise on May 4.

"Clearly, the acts sought to be enjoined did not materialize and had been overtaken by these events. Further the issues raised by herein petitioner had already been rendered moot and academic by the above-mentioned events," Gadon said in his May 21 motion.

Thus, in order not to waste the time of this Honorable Supreme Court, and to spare the handling ponente in resolving the herein petition, petitioner respectfully withdraws the same," he added.

The House franchise panel hearings on the ABS-CBN 25-year franchise bills will begin on Tuesday. —LBG, GMA News