A day after ABS-CBN shutdown, House leader wants ‘useless’ NTC abolished

MANILA, Philippines — House Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr. on Wednesday underscored the need for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to be abolished as he hit several issues against the agency–including its order to shut down media giant ABS-CBN.

In his privilege speech delivered during Wednesday’s session, Abante said that he has been mulling over the abolishment of the NTC even before its order against ABS-CBN.

Abante said that “useless” agencies of the government should be abolished.

“Ako po ay tumatayo dito ngayong hapon on a matter of personal privilege to discuss the need to abolish the National Telecommunications Commission o tinatawag nating NTC,” Abante said.

“Hindi sapagkat sa kanilang desisyon kahapon sapagkat ito ay nasa isipan ko na nang matagal na panahon na dapat ang mga ahensya ng gobyernong matatawag nating useless ay dapat nang tanggalin,” he added.

While saying that his reason for his call is not limited to the ABS-CBN issue, Abante said that NTC’s move to shut down the network was a “slap in the face of Congress and an outright act of defiance.”

To recall, in February, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez, the franchise committee chair, earlier sent a letter to the NTC enjoining the commission to grant a provisional authority to operate to ABS-CBN effective on May 4, 2020, “until such time that the House of Representatives/Congress has made a decision on its application.”

On March 10, NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba told members of the House that they would follow the advice of the Department of Justice (DOJ) allowing ABS-CBN to operate while its franchise renewal bid is pending in Congress.

Despite this pronouncement, the NTC on May 5, one day after ABS-CBN’s franchise expired, issued a cease and desist order, directing the network to stop operating its television and radio broadcasting stations nationwide “absent a valid Congressional Franchise required by law.”

“I don’t care about ABS-CBN, it can be another network. Hayagang binastos at binalewala ng NTC ang Kongreso at Senado! Papayag ba tayo na mabale wala ng isang ahensya ng pamahalaan ng puro kapalpakan lamang ang ginagawa?” Abante said.

After Abante’s speech, Cavite 7th District Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla moved to strike out all remarks that have to do with ABS-CBN “since it was made clear that it will not be discussed in plenary today.”

“Rules prohibit these discussions of ABS-CBN since it is already pending in the committee,” Remulla said.

The motion was approved and the session was adjourned.

Incompetence of officials

Abante also noted in his speech the “incompetence” of NTC officials through the years which has resulted in a “poorly regulated” telecommunications sector.

“Bakit nga ba isa sa pangunahing programa ni President Duterte na makapasok ang third TELCO sa bansa? Dahil sa kapalpakan ng NTC na bantayan ang sector na ito,” Abate said.

“Kaya nga kinailangan pa nating lumikha ng bagong departamento – ang DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology). Dahil hindi nagampanan ng NTC ang tungkulin nito,” the lawmaker added.

The House leader said the NTC “merely proposes and suggests policies to the industry” as he questioned if there has ever been a suspension of big telecommunication companies in the country over violations.

“We’ve seen how inutile the NTC has become. It came out with a memorandum circular that required mobile phone service providers to abide by a certain minimum quality of standards. Unfortunately, the commission does not even have the equipment to do an independent test,” Abante said.

The lawmaker also hit NTC’s “lack of dynamism to keep up with new technologies.”

“Our National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), supposedly in charge of regulating and promoting the telecommunications industry has turned out to be one of the most inept and useless agencies whose only relevance lies in being another model for sheer wastage of taxpayer money,” Abante said.

“Its failure all these years to invoke sanctions against the companies poorly serving the people’s telecommunications needs is a perfect reason to abolish it already,” he added.