THE National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has asked the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 42 to deny Now Telecom Company, Inc.’s petition for preliminary injunction on some provisions of the terms of reference (ToR) for the selection of the third major player in the telecommunications industry.
In a 32-page memorandum submitted on Oct. 31, the NTC, through the Office of the Solicitor General, said Now Telecom was guilty of forum shopping as it had also asked the NTC’s Selection Committee to clarify provisions of Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 09-09-2018 related to its complaint.
MC No. 09-09-2018 sets rules and regulations in awarding the third major telecommunications service provider.
The NTC said Now Telecom’s complaint is “fatally defective” because it had failed to avail of all administrative processes available.
It also noted Now Telecom’s petition for preliminary injunction should “mooted” because it wants the third telco selection process to proceed according to the schedule.
“Moreover, as correctly observed by the Honorable Court, the intended consignation is incongruous to plaintiff Now Telecom’s manifestation that it wants the bidding process to proceed. In fact, the Honorable Court even retorted that the application for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction has been mooted by such express representations,” the NTC said.
The Commission also noted the issuance of writ of preliminary injunction to halt the selection process for the new telco will violate Republic Act No. 8975, where Section 3 stated that only the Supreme Court can issue any temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction over bidding or awarding of government’s infrastructure project.
The NTC said Now Telecom “miserably failed” to prove any of the requisites for a writ of preliminary injunction which are: the existence of a clear right to be protected; the right is threatened by the act assailed; the invasion of the right is material and substantial; and there is urgency for the issuance of the writ.
Furthermore, the NTC claimed that the petition was filed by telecommunications company after it said that it is not qualified to participate in the bidding process.
The NTC noted Now Corp.’s complaint is meant to “derail” the selection process for the new major player because the issues in the complaint were not raised with the NTC despite opportunities to do so during the rulemaking process.
Now Telecom filed the complaint on Oct. 9 to block some of the selection terms. It challenged the terms of reference for selection requiring a P700 million “participation security,” a P14 to P24 billion performance security, and a P10 million non-refundable appeal fee.
Now Telecom’s earlier petition for temporary restraining order (TRO) was denied by Makati RTC Branch 42 for failure to meet the standards for the issuance of TRO.
The deadline for submission of bids for the third telco player selection is on Nov. 7. — V.M.Villegas
