Government lawyers have asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to reconsider its Aug. 16, 2022 decision that nullified the termination of the provisional authority and lifted the cease-and-desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against News and Entertainment Network Corporation, Inc. (NEWSNET), an affiliate of NOW Corporation and NOW Telecom.
The plea was contained in an urgent manifestation with motion filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) before the CA’s special 11th division composed of Associate Justices Myra V. Garcia Fernandez, who wrote the decision, and Associate Justices Tita Marilyn B. Payoyo-Villordon and Emily R. Alino-Geluz.
Earlier, the OSG had also filed a motion before the CA’s eighth division which issued on July 20, 2022 its decision that directed the NTC to approve automatically the application of NEWSNET to operate a local multi-point distribution system (LMDS).
LMDS would enable NEWSNET, whose legislative franchise had expired on Aug. 9, 2021, to deliver interactive pay television and multimedia services in the country.
The July 20, 2022 decision was written by Associate Justice Perpetua Susana T. Atal-Paño and concurred in by Associate Justices Ruben Reynaldo G. Roxas and Maximo M. De Leon.
It directed the NTC to faithfully and immediately comply with Anti-Red Tape Authority’s (ARTA) Feb. 12, 2020 order which ruled as deemed automatically approved NEWSNET’s application for a certificate of public convenience (CPC) or provisional authority (PA) for alleged failure of the NTC to act within the time required by law.
But the OSG told the CA that ARTA had recalled the Declaration of Completeness or its Feb. 12, 2020 order in a resolution dated June 17, 2022, or barely a month before the CA’s eight division decision came out.
In its manifestation on both CA decisions, the OSG told the appellate court that NEWSNET could no longer be allowed to operate and be assigned a radio frequency after its legislative franchise expired on Aug. 9, 2021.
It insisted on “no franchise, no frequency.”
Signed by Assistant Solicitor General Maria Victoria Sardillo and Associate Solicitors Camille Remoroza, Maximilian Perola and Alvin Duane Garge, the OSG asked the CA to take judicial notice of the March 31, 2023 decision by the Office of the President (OP) dismissing NEWSNET’s petition for review for being moot and for utter lack of merit.
The OSG said the OP decision – signed with authority from the President by retired Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin who is now executive secretary – ruled, among other things, that “the expiration of NEWSNET’s legislative franchise effectively disqualified it from commercially operating radio transmitters to deliver an interactive pay television and multimedia services, and being allocated with any radio frequency.”
“In other words, the Office of the President effectively ruled that a legislative franchise is necessary - nay, a pre-requisite - to the commercial operation of radio transmitters and receivers, including LMDS to deliver interactive pay television and multimedia services. Without a legislative franchise, petitioner (Newsnet) cannot be assigned a radio frequency,” it told the CA.
It pointed out that the OP’s decision jibes with those issued by ARTA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) which both ruled that applications involving radio frequency assignments is not within the coverage of Republic Act No. 11032, the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, but is a sole function of the government regulatory body which is the NTC.
“Humbly, with three government agencies – ARTA, the DOJ, and the Office of the President – echoing the same position that: first, ARTA had no jurisdiction over the assignment of frequencies; second, recall of ARTA’s Order dated 12 February 2020 was only proper having been rendered without jurisdiction; and, third, the expiration of petitioner’s franchise rendered its Application moot, respondents reiterate its plea for the Honorable Court to reconsider and set aside its Decisions …,” it also said.