Court of Appeals rejects NTC plea to lift TRO on text refund

THE Court of Appeals (CA) has refused to rule on an appeal filed by the National Telecommunications Commission asking the tribunal to lift its order halting NTC’s directive to telecommunications firms or telcos to refund their subscribers some P7 billion for allegedly excessive short message service (SMS) charges.

In a November 4, 2014 decision penned by Associate Justice Maria Elisa Sempio Diy and concurred in by Associate Justices Romeo Barza and Rodil Zalameda, the CA’s Special 17th Division denied “the NTC’s prayer for the lifting/ dissolution of the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) pursuant to [its] September 3, 2014 resolution for being premature.”