EMBATTLED broadcasting company ABS-CBN Corp. on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) from implementing its May 5 cease and desist order (CDO) stopping the network’s operation following the expiration of its legislative franchise.
Also on Thursday, at least 13 senators crossed party lines to air the sense of the Senate urging the NTC to reconsider its order against ABS-CBN Corp. and allow the network and its subsidiaries and affiliates—ABS CBN Convergence Inc., Sky Cable Corp. and Amcara Broadcasting Network Inc.—to continue operation pending Congress’ disposition of its franchise renewal.
In its 50-page petition for certiorari and prohibition with urgent application for the issuance of a TRO and/or a writ of preliminary injunction, the network said the CDO should be set aside as it violates the right of the public to information.
The NTC order also curtails freedom of speech guaranteed under the Constitution, it said.
ABS-CBN argued that the NTC should have allowed the company to continue its operation pending Congress’ final action on the franchise application.
It noted that the CDO deviated from past NTC practices, allowing other companies to continue to operate pending renewal of franchise—in violation, ABS-CBN said, of its right to equal protection of the law.
It cited the cases of Vanguard Radio Network, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (Catholic Media Network), Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ), Innove Communications (previously Isla
Communications Co. Inc.), and Smart Communications Inc. (formerly Smart Information
Technologies Inc.).
“There is no reason why the same practice should not be applied to ABS-CBN,” the petition read.
Due process
Likewise, ABS-CBN accused NTC of violating its right to due process when it issued the CDO without notice and hearing.
It noted that in GMA Network Inc. v. NTC, the SC prescribed requisites for the issuance of a CDO and declared that if the CDO “amounts to more than the reservation of the status quo, and directs the doing and undoing of acts, it is treated as a writ of preliminary injunction.”
Thus, the SC said, the requirements for injunctive relief must be met.
“The CDO issued by the NTC against ABS-CBN is in the nature of preliminary injunction because it directs an act to be done—‘to immediately cease and desist from operating the [enumerated ] radio and television stations. It is not a status quo order because stopping operations would not be equivalent to maintaining the last, actual, peaceable and uncontested state of things prior to the controversy,” ABS-CBN explained.
“Therefore, the CDO should have been issued upon notice and after hearing, and the requisites of a preliminary injunction must have been met,” it added.
The petitioner also justified its decision to set aside the policy on hierarchy of courts and directly bring the petition before the SC, saying that the issues raised are of transcendental importance which requires urgent action from the SC.
DOJ opinion
ABS-CBN said the NTC is bound to heed the legal opinion issued by the DOJ, that it is entitled to a PA pending Congress’ action on its application for franchise renewal.
It said the DOJ view bears the approval of the President under the alter ego doctrine.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra had noted that in several similar situations in the past, Congress allowed the status quo, without urging the NTC to issue a temporary or provisional permit, “in consideration of the equities of the situation.”
Guevarra said “there is sufficient equitable basis to allow broadcast entities to continue operating while the bills for the renewal of their franchise remain pending with Congress.”
“In this case, the President has not disapproved or revoked the DOJ’s guidance. Thus, it is binding on the NTC as an executive agency that falls under the control of the President,” the petition stated.
Commitment to House
The NTC also issued the CDO despite the assurance made by NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba at the House Committee on Legislative Franchises hearing on March 10, 2020, that the agency will issue a PA to ABS-CBN so it can operate pending its application.
House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez, chairman of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises, also asked the NTC to issue PAs to ABS-CBN and its affiliates, effective on May 4 until such time as Congress has made a decision on its franchise application.
ABS-CBN stressed there is no urgent or paramount necessity for issuing the CDO.
On the contrary, the network said its closure will deprive the government of a huge source of tax revenues. From 2016 to 2019, it said it remitted to the government P14.3 billion in income tax payments, excluding withholding taxes remitted by its employees and talents.
It noted that the network is one of the largest in terms of market coverage and audience, with an estimated market share between 31 percent and 44 percent.
Thus, its closure would deprive the public of one of the leading sources of news and entertainment, and “would impair the people’s constitutional right to information on matters of public concern.
“The public needs the services of ABS-CBN now more than ever, as the country grapples with the effects of Covid-19. In this time of public health emergency, ABS-CBN plays a significant role in providing continued employment to thousands of employees and delivering valuable information and entertainment to millions of Filipinos locked down in their homes,” it pointed out.
The network also filed an urgent motion for a special raffle of the petition so that the Court can take immediate action on the issue.
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