WE reported the other week about the fake news that Smart Communications will have to stop operations in March this year because Congress will not extend its original 25-year franchise issued in 1992 for another 25 years, ostensibly because it failed to offer at least 30 percent of its shares of stock to the public, as required under the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of 1995 law and its own legislative franchise.
We received an e-mail from the telco explaining in detail its position on the matter.
“The information about the supposed congressional stumbling block is completely false, because the truth is the Committee on Legislative Franchises of the House of Representatives agreed last November that Smart had, indeed, already complied with the public ownership provision under its franchise because its parent firm PLDT is already a listed company at the Philippine Stock Exchange [PSE].
“Following extensive deliberations at the committee level on the bill seeking to renew Smart’s franchise, the House of Representatives approved a consolidated measure, House Bill 4637, on first reading last December 7, and then on second reading on December 13, or before the traditional Christmas break of both chambers of the Philippine legislature.
“These facts are on record and can easily be accessed at the House of Representatives web site. Thus, it is puzzling why false reports about Smart’s franchise renewal had circulated in the mainstream media—especially after the House had already passed the measure.
“The ones peddling the wrong information are certainly no morons who are clueless on the latest developments in Congress or clueless on how the legislative process actually works in both chambers. Hence, the only explanation for this apparently deliberate dig at disinformation that we can think of is that there could be a hidden—and sinister—agenda behind it.
“As for the Senate, the most likely thing that would happen is that it would approve the franchise bill that would be referred to it by the House following its approval there on third and final reading after Congress resumes its session on January 16 after the annual break.
“This likely scenario throws out the window another fib being spread by the disinformation peddlers, which is that the only way for Smart’s franchise bill to pass through both chambers is for President Duterte no less to ram it down the legislators’ throats.
“In the first place, there is no need for any arm-twisting by the President—assuming, just for the sake of argument, that he has the desire to do so—either for or against the approval of Smart’s franchise, because the bill has a robust legal leg to stand on its own.
“Second, it would be futile for him to do so, because the Senate, for one, is equivalent to having 24 independent republics. Close watchers of congressional developments—as the disinformation peddlers are expected and supposed to be as social influencers—know that no President in recent Philippine history has been able to pressure the fiercely independent Senate as an institution into blindly approving anything just because the Chief Executive of the land has said so.
“Third, developments in both the Executive and Legislative branches in the first half-year of the Duterte presidency indicate that the President is no micromanager when it comes to issues other than his signature peace-and-order drive. It is not just his style to put pressure on legislators to do something—which is actually just fine by us in keeping with the supposed separation of powers between these two branches of government.”
So there. Beware of fake news that’s getting more and more circulation in traditional, as well as social, media.
Real deal
DO we really need the Philippine equivalent of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States?
Sen. Loren Legarda thinks so, and that’s why she has filed a bill proposing the creation of the Philippine Space Agency.
Senate Bill 1259 seeks to establish a Philippine Space Development Policy that will serve as the country’s primary strategic road map for space development. At the same time, it will create the Philippine Space Agency as the central government agency on space science and technology applications.
Legarda’s rationale for filing the bill is this: “Space programs and development are not limited to sending astronauts to space or engineering space crafts and technologies, but they, in fact, address basic needs in our daily lives, such as the application of global navigation satellite systems, which directly affect industries, transportation management, national security, health management, and the expansion of scientific and engineering resources.”
The proposed Philippine space development policy will focus on six key development areas: national security and development; hazard management and climate studies; space research and development; space industry and capacity building; space education and awareness; and international cooperation.
The Philippines actually lags behind neighboring countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore, which have their own space agency with satellites devoted to telecommunications and Earth monitoring. The thing is, we actually have Filipino space scientists, but they have chosen to work in space agencies abroad due to lack of local opportunities.
We fully support the passage of this bill as a national space program will benefit the country by allowing us to keep in step with technological innovations that we can use in various fields of national endeavor.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.
2 comments
Fake news is a serious offense, a crime, it is even a sin — bearing false witness. What can you say now Mr. Tiglao?
The only interest Pres. Duterte has on the telco issue is that our slow internet be improved. Therefore whoever is peddling this fake news is in effect interfering witrh the President’s wishes, because neutralizing one of the telcos will only worsen service, both from disenfranchised subscribers and from the remaining telco who no longer has competition to worry about. If anything, the source of this fakery must be charged with economic sabotage.