DOJ won’t issue legal opinion to NTC on provisional permit to ABS-CBN

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) will not issue a legal opinion to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on a move to grant provisional authority to ABS-CBN to allow it to operate pending the renewal of its franchise.

“Sa totoo, hindi kami magbibigay ng (We won’t issue a) legal opinion sa (to) National Telecommunications Commission,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters after the Senate public services committee hearing on the franchise of the media giant.

Guevarra said the DOJ could not issue its legal opinion on the matter because a private company is involved.

“Unang-una kasi ang legal opinions ng DOJ ay sino-solicit lamang ng mga national government agencies in connection with their official work,” he said.

“Pero pagka merong private individual or private company or private interest na involve like ABS-CBN, hindi kami makapagbbgay ng opinyon because our legal opinion will not be binding on a private company who may actually go to court to have the matter resolved. That’s one reason kung bakit kami magde-decline,” he added.

The NTC earlier sought the opinion of the DOJ if whether or not it should allow ABS-CBN to continue its operations while bills seeking the renewal of its franchise remain pending in Congress.

During the hearing, Guevarra said Congress might authorize the NTC to allow ABS-CBN to continue to operate while the House of Representatives has yet to act on pending bills filed before it.

The NTC, as well as the Security Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), cleared the network of any violations of the law.