Robin Padilla: SMNI suspension baseless, lacks due process

FILE PHOTO: SMNI

MANILA, Philippines — Another senator stepped in to defend the beleaguered Sonshine Media Network Inc. (SMNI).

On Friday, Senator Robin Padilla slammed the National Telecommunications Commission  (NTC) for supposedly skirting due process in ordering the suspension of SMNI for 30 days.

The chairman of the Senate committee on public information and mass media said he would file a resolution on that issue when Congress resumes work in January.

“The NTC, in its show cause and suspension order, failed to indicate the need to suspend the operations of the SMNI, much more express how this is necessary to avoid serious and irreparable damage or inconvenience to the public or to private interests,” Padilla said in the resolution he is to file formally.

In suspending the network’s operations, NTC said they “took cognizance” of a House of Representatives resolution urging them to stop the operations of SMNI for violating its legislative franchise.

SMNI has been the subject of a House probe for allegedly propagating false information.

“In the absence of proof of serious and irreparable damage or inconvenience to the public or private interests that may be caused by SMNI’s continued operations, the general rule shall apply wherein the NTC shall have the power, upon proper notice and hearing, to issue a suspension order pursuant to the Public Services Act,” Padilla went on.

According to the senator, there is a proviso in the law that states that the NTC may suspend for up to 30 days “to avoid serious and irreparable damage or inconvenience to the public or to private interests.”

He also cited a 2008 Supreme Court decision stating that administrative proceedings are “not exempt from basic and fundamental procedural principles, such as the right to due process in investigations and hearings.”

“The baseless issuance of a 30-day suspension order is a transgression of SMNI’s right to due process, which will result in serious and irreparable damage to it and its employees no less,” he then said.

In defending SMNI, Padilla claimed that the network has been “instrumental” in helping the government fight terrorism through its programs that seek to educate the public against communist propaganda and recruitment strategies.

Senator Imee Marcos also questioned the NTC’s suspension order against SMNI on Thursday.