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NTC asks Supreme Court to junk ABS-CBN petition vs. cease and desist order


The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss for "lack of merit" ABS-CBN's petition challenging its cease and desist order that forced the network to go off the air earlier this month.

The commission also asked the SC to deny ABS-CBN's request for a temporary restraining order (TRO), arguing "there is nothing more to enjoin" as the cease and desist order "had already served its purpose" when ABS-CBN complied with it.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), the NTC's lawyer, argued for the commission that the P30 to P35 million ABS-CBN said it is losing every day is a damage that is "not irreparable" as "it is subject to mathematical computation."

The OSG added that ABS-CBN cannot base its request for a TRO on damage allegedly caused to third parties, in this case the company's employees and viewers and the broadcast industry.

"Generally speaking, the petitioner must assert its own legal rights and interests, and cannot rest its claim on the legal rights and interests of others. Otherwise, there will be violation of the prohibition against jus tertii standing," the OSG said.

ABS-CBN asked the SC early May to nullify and set aside the cease and desist order, which it said was issued without hearing and notice, to the detriment of its 11,000 employees. It also asked for a more immediate relief: a TRO against the NTC directive.

The SC has not yet acted on the request for a TRO.

In its 91-page comment, the NTC through the OSG said that its issuance of the cease and desist order was valid as it has the power to stop broadcasting operations in the absence of a legislative franchise.

It said the House franchise committee's letter as well as a Senate resolution expressing that ABS-CBN should be given a provisional authority to operate beyond the expiration of its franchise last May 4 are "not equivalent to a franchise."

Bills for the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise have been pending before the House of Representatives for years. The company has argued its right to equal protection of the laws was violated, claiming that other similarly situated entities were allowed to operate pending the renewal of their franchise.

But the OSG argued that ABS-CBN's continued broadcast operations "cannot be based on wrongful past practice." It also claimed that ABS-CBN is not similarly situated with entities that were allowed to operate.

The OSG added that the NTC may issue a cease and desist order on its own upon the expiry of the company's legislative franchise.

The NTC ordered ABS-CBN to stop  the operations of several of its television and radio stations on May 5, a day after the company's 25-year license expired. The NTC issued the order despite its commissioner saying in March that it will heed the advice of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The DOJ has maintained that broadcast entities that have applied for franchise renewal before their current license expired may be allowed to continue operating while awaiting congressional action on their application.

The OSG however argued that NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba's "statements of commitment" during inquiries by lawmakers "cannot supplant the requirements of the law."

It likewise said that the DOJ's advice -- which came not in the form of a legal opinion but a "guidance" -- "is not binding upon the NTC."

The OSG further argued that the issuance of the cease and desist order was a "purely administrative act" and that the "plain, speedy, adequate remedy" is to file a motion for reconsideration with the NTC or file its petition before the regional trial courts or the Court of Appeals instead of going directly to the SC.

The OSG also asked the SC to drop the House of Representatives and the Senate as parties to ABS-CBN's petition. The SC impleaded both chambers of Congress as respondents last week and ordered them to file their respective comments. --KBK, GMA News

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