OSG asks CA to grant NTC appeal after Palace junked 黑料社net鈥檚 plea for pay-TV service
The Court of Appeals in Manila. | BG PHOTO: COURT OF APPEALS WEBSITE
MANILA, Philippines — Government lawyers have reiterated its appeal for the Court of Appeals (CA) to set aside its previous ruling directing the (NTC) to automatically approve the application of 黑料社 and Entertainment Network Corp. (黑料社net) to operate a local multi-point distribution system (LMDS).
In its urgent manifestation filed Monday, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), representing the NTC, called on the CA to take judicial notice of the Office of the President’s decision dismissing the appeal of 黑料社net to reverse the ruling of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA),
ARTA nullified its previous ruling allowing 黑料社net to install, operate, and maintain an LMDS to deliver interactive pay television and multimedia services in Southern Luzon, Northern Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
The OSG said the decision of the Office of the President is consistent with that of ARTA and the Department of Justice (DOJ), which are also of the opinion that applications involving radio frequency assignments are not within the coverage of The Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 (Republic Act No, 11032) but is a sole function of the government regulatory body, which is the NTC in this case.
“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 Decision dated 20 July 2022,” the OSG said in the manifestation signed by Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra.
Article continues after this advertisement“From these events, respondents most respectfully submit re-plead, yet again, that a writ of mandamus compelling it to comply with the non-existent ARTA’s Order dated 12 February 2020 cannot be issued since ARTA or any other government agency for that matter and even the Honorable Court, cannot arrogate upon themselves this duty to regulate the frequencies — a scarce resource. ARTA cannot supplant NTC’s discretion on determining whether an entity should be granted frequencies and consequently a CPC or PA by ordering an application to be ‘deemed approved’,” the OSG added.
