‘No reason for NTC not to issue provisional authority to ABS-CBN’

MANILA, Philippines — There’s no reason for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to deny the request of Congress that it allow ABS-CBN to continue operating after its license expires on May 4, according to a vice chair of the House legislative franchises committee.

Isabela Rep. Antonio Albano on Saturday played down fears that the NTC would not grant the provisional authority sought by the House leadership on behalf of ABS-CBN pending approval of the latter’s application for renewal through 11 bills.

“Therefore, we do not foresee any reason for NTC not to issue a provisional authority that we have requested,” he said in a statement.

Albano said he respected the opinion of President Duterte’s spokesperson and chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo, who earlier commented that any provisional authority granted to ABS-CBN without a valid franchise would be “illegal.”

“However, this will not prevent us in Congress, particularly the franchise committee, from moving forward to hear the case, as we maintain our position that NTC should issue the provisional authority to ABS-CBN pending the deliberation of said ABS-CBN application,” Albano said.

Only Congress can grant or deny a broadcasting franchise but it has no powers over the NTC, an executive office attached to the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

PrecedentHouse leaders were banking on precedent cases in which the NTC allowed franchise holders whose license had expired to continue operating while Congress was still deliberating on their application.

“Surely, it would be prudent for NTC to also give the same precedent practices of issuing a provisional authority that it has done so in the past as a courtesy to Congress and for judicial purposes,” Albano said.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Sunday branded the planned March 10 hearing on ABS-CBN’s franchise as “cosmetic and inconsequential” as it would not delve into the actual renewal of the license, but only its temporary extension.

Franchise no less

The opposition lawmaker, who initially praised the House leadership’s move to schedule the hearing a day before Congress was to adjourn session, maintained that his colleagues were wrong to focus on securing a provisional authority from the NTC to let ABS-CBN continue to operate after the expiration of its license.

He insisted that the House should be working toward the actual grant or denial of ABS-CBN’s franchise, as no less than such would legally assure the broadcast giant of the right to keep operating.

ABS-CBN’s 25-year franchise will lapse on the day coinciding with the resumption of plenary session of the two legislative chambers after the Lenten break.