NTC backs proposed non-expiration of franchises with pending renewal
MANILA, Philippines — The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) backed a proposed measure seeking the non-expiration of franchises with pending renewal in Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon earlier filed Senate Bill No. 1530 seeking to amend Section 18, Book VII, Chapter 3 of Revised Administrative Code which provides for the non-expiration of a license, where the licensee has filed a timely and sufficient application for renewal, until a final determination on the application has been made.
Drilon’s amendment expands the provision to also include franchises granted by Congress.
“We agree with the proposed Senate bill of Senator Drilon…malaking bagay po ito para po ma-fix yun pong gap sa batas para kapag may pending matters ay, ito (franchise) po ay considered buhay pa,” NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said during a Senate panel hearing tackling the said measure.
(We agree with the proposed Senate bill of Senator Drilon…this would be a big help to fix the gap in the law that if there is a pending renewal, the franchise would still be considered active.)
“Meron po kasi tayong (Republic) Act No. 346 stating that kailangan po ng franchise for a public utility to operate. So with this amendment as proposed by Senator Drilon ay malaking bagay po ito to fix that gap in the law” he added.
(We have [Republic] Act No. 3846 stating that a franchise is needed for a public utility to operate, so with this amendment proposed by Senator Drilon will really fix this gap in the law.)
On May 5, the NTC issued a cease-and-desist order against ABS-CBN after its franchise lapsed, forcing the network to shut its television and radio broadcast operations nationwide.
This, despite NTC’s earlier assurance that it would grant provisional authority to ABS-CBN as Congress deliberates on the network’s pending franchise renewal.
In issuing the order, the NTC cited Republic Act No. 3846 or the Radio Control Law, which states that “no person, firm, company, association, or corporation shall construct, install, establish, or operate a radio transmitting station, or radio receiving station used for commercial purposes, or a radio broadcasting station, without having first obtained a franchise therefor from the Congress of the Philippines.”
Thus, with the expiration of the Republic Act. No 7966, which granted ABS-CBN a 25-year franchise to operate its TV and radio broadcasting stations, NTC said that ABS-CBN “no longer has a valid and subsisting congressional franchise as required by Act No. 3846.
‘Unequal protection of law’
Retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio also expressed support for Drilon’s proposed measure saying that it would “remove the unequal protection of the law that currently exists in the renewal of franchises by Congress.”
“In the past, all franchisees with pending franchises for renewal with Congress have been allowed to continue operating even if their franchises have expired fin the meantime, the only exception appears to be ABS-CBN and I think this violates for protection of the law under Section 1 Article 3 of the Constitution,” he said.
“Senate Bill No. 1530 remedies this unequal protection of the law,” Carpio added.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, chair of the constitutional amendments and revision of codes and on public services committee, further explained that the bill would make it “incumbent upon the issuing authority
to act on an application and avoid situations where silence or inaction could effectively bar the operations of an enterprise.”
“While we recognize that the grant of a franchise is a discretionary power of Congress, it has also become a political power that only Congress can exercise. Franchise applicants can’t demand Congress to grant them franchise because it is not a demandable right, but a privilege,” he said.
“Conversely, as franchises are imbued with public service, Congress has the responsibility to act and could not simply hide in the veil of silence or inaction by serving franchise-holders a natural death,” he added.
Unanimous support
Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) President Ruperto Nicdao Jr. also backed the proposed amendment, saying that it would address the “unfortunate situation wherein renewal for franchise applications are filed before expiration but are not acted upon in time.”
According to Nicdao, around five or 10 of its members with expired or expiring franchises were allowed to continue operating, provided the application for renewal has been filed.
“In many instances, applicants for franchise renewal face the possibility of a shutdown of operations, through no fault of theirs, and at the expense of continuity of public service,” he said.
