A LAWYER asked the Supreme Court to stop the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to issue a provisional authority to extend the operation of ABS-CBN Corp. when its franchise lapses on May 4.
In a 20-page petition for prohibition, lawyer Lorenzo G. Gadon asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order to restrict NTC Commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba to comply with the House of Representatives’ letter, asking the commission to allow ABS-CBN’s operation after expiration of its franchise.
He also asked the court to compel House Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano House committee chair on legislative franchise Franz E. Alvarez to recall their letter enjoining the NTC to issue provisional authority to ABS-CBN for their continued operation.
Mr. Gadon said the NTC has no authority or jurisdiction to issue a permit to operate to ABS-CBN as its functions are “merely regulatory and supervisory.”
“The supposed authority of the NTC to extend an existing broadcast franchise, or to issue a provisional permit to operate sans a valid franchise, is nowhere in the said mandate,” he stated.
He said that NTC can only issue a Certificate of Public Convenience if there is valid franchise.
The lawyer said that the principle of separation of powers is infringed when NTC, which is under the executive branch, was given the authority by the Congress to allow the broadcast company’s operation beyond its franchise.
“NTC cannot usurp the power of Congress to grant or extend ABS-CBN’s legislative franchise. It is only Congress, which can extend ABS-CBN’s franchise,” he said in his petition.
“This is tantamount to extending the franchise of ABS-CBN, through an undue delegation of powers,” he added.
Mr. Gadon said that if the two lawmakers wanted to extend or renew ABS-CBN’s franchise, “they could have done it by conducting the proper committee hearings.”
While he is not affected by the issue on the franchise, Mr. Gadon said that the issue is of “transcendental importance.”
The House of Representatives late last month asked the NTC to issue a provisional authority to ABS-CBN for continued operations pending the application for franchise renewal in Congress.
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra in a Senate hearing last month on ABS-CBN’s franchise said the Congress may pass a concurrent resolution authorizing the NTC to issue provisional authority for the operation of ABS-CBN during the pendency of its franchise renewal.
Mr. Gadon said he does not agree with the position of the Justice secretary.
“A franchise is a law. You cannot replace it with just a resolution,” he told reporters during the filing, adding that he hopes the petition could urge the Congress to tackle the application for franchise renewal.
The Office of the Solicitor General has also filed with the Supreme Court a quo warranto petition against ABS-CBN Corp. and its unit ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc. to cancel their legislative franchises over violations of the law. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
