(Eagle News) — Solicitor General Jose Calida on Wednesday, May 6, said critics were “barking up the wrong tree” in blaming the National Telecommunications Commission for ABSCBN Corp.’s plight, noting that the commission was only following the law when it issued a cease and desist order against the media giant.
In a statement, Calida said “without a valid and subsisting franchise from Congress,” after all, the NTC “cannot allow any broadcasting entity from operating in the country.”
ABSCBN Corp.’s franchise expired on May 4.
“The Constitution requires a prior franchise from Congress before a broadcasting entity can operate in the country. Absent a renewal, the franchise expires by operation of law. The franchise ceases to exist and the entity can no longer continue its operations as a public utility,” Calida said.
Calida said there is also a judicial precedent on the power of the NTC to issue such an order, which he hailed as a triumph of the rule of law.
He said in a 2003 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the issuance of the NTC of both a recall and a cease and desist order against a broadcasting entity when it failed to renew its franchise was “valid and compliant to administrative due process.”
“Nobody is sacred. Even a powerful and influential corporation must follow the law,” Calida said, referring to ABSCBN.
According to Calida, in the first place, the bill renewing ABSCBN’s franchise has been pending in Congress since 2016.
“The question we should be asking is, why hasn’t Congress acted on it? Who is at fault here?” Calida asked.
Earlier, Calida cautioned the NTC against issuing a provisional authority to operate to ABSCBN Corp. and its affiliate ABSCBN Convergence, noting there was nothing in the law that said this could be issued before a congressional franchise was.
The NTC issued the cease and desist order against ABSCBN Corp. on Tuesday, May 5, a day after the media giant’s congressional franchise expired.
ABSCBN Convergence’s franchise expired on March 17.