House franchise panel to NTC: Explain ABS-CBN shutdown or face contempt

The chairman of the House committee on legislative franchises threatened to cite officials of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) with contempt for its “disobedience” to the House of Representatives in ordering the closure of ABS-CBN.

“You are ordered to explain within 72 hours from receipt of this order why you should not be cited in contempt or proceeded against for issuing an Order to ABS-CBN Corp. to immediately cease and desist from operating its radio and television stations after having assured the House of Representatives, during the hearing of the committee on legislative franchises on March 10, 2020, that the NTC will let ABS-CBN Corp. continue its operations until Congress has finally disposed of the franchise renewal ills consistent with precedents and practice and the position of the Department of Justice as well as the clear directive of the House of Representatives that ABS-CBN Corp. should be allowed to continue to operate until such time that Congress has made a decision on its application,” Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez said in the order dated May 5.

But the order was only sent by email on Monday, according to a media liaison officer of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

“The act of the NTC constitutes an undue interference on and disobedience to the exercise of the power of the House of Representatives, and therefore, an affront to its dignity and an inexcusable disrespect of its authority,” the letter read in part.

“Your failure to comply with this Order within the period prescribed will result in a finding against you for contempt of the House of Representatives and subject you to other actions that are within the powers of the House of Representatives to enforce,” Alvarez said.

The order was addressed to NTC commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba, deputy commissioners Edgardo Cabarios and Delilah Deles, and legal branch head Ella Blanca Lopez.

ABS-CBN shut down its broadcasting facilities on May 5 in compliance to the cease-and-desist order of the NTC.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)