CA: ARTA order granting Newsnet permit to operate final and executory

The Court of Appeals (CA) has ruled that the Anti-Red Tape Authority’s (ARTA) 2020 order to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to issue a certificate of public convenience (CPC) to petitioner News and Entertainment Network Corporation (Newsnet) is final and executory.

In its 33-page order dated July 20, 2022, the CA Special Eighth Division granted the Petition for Mandamus filed by Newsnet against the NTC.

Newsnet is an affiliate of NOW Telecom Company Inc.

The Petition for Mandamus was sought by Newsnet to compel the NTC to comply with the order of the ARTA dated February 12, 2020 that automatically approved its application for the issuance of a CPC to install, operate, and maintain a Local Multi-Point Distribution System (LMDS) to deliver interactive Pay Television and multimedia services in South Luzon, North Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in the 25.35 GHz 26.35 GHz frequency range with authority to charge rates therefor. 

In its earlier statement, the NTC noted that “the ARTA had no jurisdiction over its quasi-judicial functions which are not covered by the 3, 7 and 20-day periods and that radio frequency assignment, subject to treaty obligations, is also exempt from ARTA’s coverage.”

The CA, however, found Newsnet’s petition to be meritorious, citing that the ARTA, indeed, has jurisdiction over the NTC.

In its order, the CA cited the Ease of Doing Business Act, of which ARTA’s jurisdiction applies to all government offices and agencies that provide services covering business and nonbusiness related transactions which includes the NTC.

With this, the Appellate court ruled that February 12, 2020 order of the ARTA which deemed automatically approved Newsnet’s application “is already final and executory.”

Judgemnts, once final and executory, are incontestable and unappealable, according to the CA order.

The NTC is directed to faithfully and immediately comply with the February 2020 order of the ARTA, wherein it deemed automatically approved Newsnet’s application for a CPC.

The decision to grant the petition was penned by Court of Appeals Associate Justice Perpetua Susana T. Atal-Paño, with concurrence by Court of Appeals Associate Justices Ruben Reynaldo G. Roxas and Maximo M. De Leon.

GMA News Online reached out to the NTC for its comment on the matter, but no response has been received yet as of this posting.—LDF, GMA News