THE House Committee on Legislative Franchises chaired by Parañaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting on Monday adopted House Resolution 1499, as amended, authored by PBA Party-list Rep. Margarita “Atty. Migs” Nograles, urging the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to suspend the operations of Swara Sug Media Corporation operating under the business name Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), for violating the terms and conditions of its franchise under Republic Act (RA) 11422.
NTC Deputy Commissioner Engr. Alvin Bernard Blanco assured Rep. Nograles that the Commission will carefully evaluate HR 1499, seeking the suspension of SMNI on grounds identified in Committee hearings.
The committee also approved the amendment to the last part of HR 1499, as proposed by 1-RIDER Partylist Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez, to read as follows : “Whereas the mandatory requirements in Sections 10 and 11 are distinct and separate from the annual report required to be submitted by the franchisee under Section 12 . The mere inclusion of any change in ownership in the annual report is not the compliance contemplated by the aforementioned sections, considering that the grantee is operating a business that is 100 percent Filipino ownership and change thereof requires scrutiny by Congress in order to protect public interest.” The corresponding committee report on HR 1499 was also approved.
The committee also unanimously decided to suspend consideration of the letter of SMNI anchor Jefrrey “Ka Eric” Celiz requesting for an end to his detention on humanitarian grounds. Quezon Rep. David “Jay-Jay” Suarez initially said he is inclined to deny the request of Celiz on the ground of bad faith, after the families Mr. Celiz and fellow SMNI anchor Dr. Lorraine Badoy-Partosa on Monday lodged a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) for the release of the anchors. Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel instead suggested for the committee merely suspend consideration of the request of Mr. Celiz, not entirely deny it, because although they (SMNI anchors) have already filed a case in the SC, they can always withdraw it. “Tingnan natin kung ano ang direction nila Mr. Celiz and Ms. Badoy. If they really want the committee to decide on their request, then they have to withdraw the cases in the SC before we even start considering their request,” Rep. Pimentel explained.
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