ARTA Secretary Belgica distances self from case on NTC frequencies

Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) Secretary Jeremiah Belgica distanced himself from the ongoing dispute regarding the frequencies assigned by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), claiming that such allegations were malicious.

In a statement released Monday, Belgica said the ARTA in March 2021 deemed Now Telecom’s application as automatically approved, and directed the NTC to issue the Provisional Authority and the frequencies it applied for.

“[N]akikita naming malisyoso ang paratang dahil una sa lahat hindi ako pumirma ng Order of Automatic Approval o kasama sa anumang pagdinig sa reklamong ito,” he said in a statement.

“Sa kabila nito, isa pa rin ako sa mga kinasuhan at isinailalim sa preventive suspension,” he added.

(We see that such allegations are malicious because first of all, I did not sign the Order of Automatic Approval nor part of any hearing in the complaint. Despite this, I was still among the respondents and included in the preventive suspension.)

Belgica’s statement was released after the Office of the Ombudsman ordered a six-month suspension of ARTA officials, in line with graft complaints filed by officials of Dito Telecommunity Corp.

The Ombudsman noted that the six-month suspension is in order to secure the documents, and to prevent possible harassment of witnesses, noting that the further stay in office may prejudice the case filed against them.

ARTA last year issued an order of automatic approval for the assignment by the NTC of certain frequencies, which Now Telecom would need for its cellular mobile telephony service (CMTS) license.

This was then questioned by Dito and the NTC, arguing the assignment of frequencies should not have been deemed as automatically approved.

Under its mandate, ARTA seeks to monitor and ensure the compliance of the national policy on anti-red tape and the ease of doing business in the country.

“Lilinawin ko lang po na hindi ang ARTA ang nag-a-approve ng aplikasyon. Hindi kami ang may kapangyarihan na magbigay ng frequencies or provisional authority,” Belgica said.

“Ang approval o denial ng application ay nakadepende sa ahensya pero kung hindi ito naaksyunan, doon pumapasok ang aplikasyon ng batas. Wala ho kaming intensyon na kunin ang kahit anong kapangyarihan ng NTC na pag-assign ng frequency sa Now Tel,” he added.

(Let me clarify that ARTA does not approve applications. We do not have the authority to give frequencies or provisional authority. Any approval or denial of an application depends on the agency but if it is not acted upon, this is where the law comes in. We have no intention to obtain any powers of the NTC to assign a frequency to Now Tel.)

The ARTA ensures the implementation of the Ease of Doing Business Act, which provides that government agencies should only take three days to process simple transactions, seven days for complex transactions, and 20 days for highly technical transactions.

“Ang kapangyarihan namin ay ang pagsusuri kung kumpleto ang inyong isinumite at hindi naaksyunan. Sinusuri namin sa aming mga pagdinig kung kumpleto na ba ang mga dokumento at nabayaran na ba ang kinakailangang bayaran upang maaprubahan ang kanilang inapplyan at upang malaman kung may pagkukulang na ginawa ang ahensya,” Belgica said Monday.

“Kung mapatunayan na hindi sumusunod ang mga ahensya sa batas, ito ay aming pinoproseso sa investigation and litigation office para sa pagsasampa ng kaso,” he continued.

(Our power is to evaluate if the submissions are complete. We evaluate if documents are complete and if the necessary charges have been paid for an application to be approved and to determine if there are agency deficiencies. If it is found that agencies do not follow the law, we process this in our investigation and litigation office for the filing of cases.)—AOL, GMA News