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THE tough stance taken by the National Telecommunications Commission
(NTC)—though it has to be said, prodded on seemingly only by the
congressional inquiry that yielded serious anomalies with regard to
the awarding of franchises on the telecommunications front—got a
guarded nod of approval from the lawmakers themselves.
Last week, the NTC—which is often seen,
rightly or wrongly, as a watchdog persistently failing to keep
watch—issued a directive mandating direct broadcast service
provider MediaScape Inc. (formerly GV Broadcasting System Inc.) to
explain why its congressional franchise is being revoked by
Congress.
“We laud the NTC’s strong and positive
action. We have had enough of franchised entities brazenly violating
the conditions of their congressional concessions,” said Rep.
Joseph Santiago of Catanduanes, a former commissioner of the NTC
himself.
“We are counting on the NTC to use this case
[versus MediaScape] as an example, so that every franchised entity
will dutifully comply with the terms of their legislative grants
going forward,” added Santiago, chairman of the House information
and communications technology committee and vice chairman of the
legislative franchises committee.
Santiago was reacting to NTC Commissioner Ruel
Canobas’ directive for MediaScape to answer the issues raised by
Rep. Rodolfo Plaza of Agusan del Sur in House Bill 5028, which seeks
to repeal MediaScape’s congressional franchise.
Canobas’ order was contained in a letter to
Orlando Vea, president of MediaQuest Holdings Inc., parent firm of
MediaScape.
“You are hereby directed to submit to the
commission, your explanation on the issues raised in [the House
bill], and on whether or not the sale of GV [MediaScape] as well as
its franchise to MediaQuest was done in violation of Section 20 of
the Public Service Act, as amended, and other relevant issues on the
matter,” Canobas told Vea, who is a founding player of the
communications industry in the Philippines particularly with regard
to the lucrative and ever expanding mobile telephone sector.
According to Plaza, MediaScape and its
direct-to-home (DTH) broadcast franchise were illegally sold on at
least two occasions, without the prior approval of Congress.
Under the law, franchised entities cannot
lawfully transfer ownership or control of a franchise without the
consent of Congress.
Plaza also accused former NTC Commissioner
Ponciano “Jacky” Cruz Jr. of “self-dealing” while he was at
the helm of the agency.
Plaza said Cruz, who served as NTC chief for
less than six months, irregularly granted a “midnight” satellite
TV license to MediaScape. It turned out that Cruz was one of the
five members of the board of directors of SATVentures Inc., the
controlling stockholder of MediaScape, Plaza said. MediaQuest
acquired MediaScape for P450 million last year.
It will be interesting to see how the NTC will
walk the potential tightrope with regard to this matter considering
the fact that one of its former bosses is heavily implicated. Or
could it be that the time honored adage in the public sector that
people in glasshouses should refrain from throwing stones apply?
MediaQuest is a holding entity wholly owned by
the Beneficial Trust Fund of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.
(PLDT). The fund is controlled by PLDT management and meant to
guarantee the benefits due retiring employees of the
telecommunications service provider.
PLDT had planned to use MediaScape to pursue new
ventures into digital mobile TV and Internet Protocol TV as well as
DTH broadcasting via satellite.
All this, of course, begs the question as to why
the NTC—which is supposed to be the nation’s watchdog and
regulatory body on matters concerned with telecommunications—had
to be urged to get its act together and take steps to bring the
erring telecom companies to book only by a congressional inquiry.
But still better that than never!
bizzfizz_98@yahoo.com
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