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Instead of cease and desist, NTC should've issued show cause on ABS-CBN: ex-Chief Justice

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<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uhJOiNjvE8Y?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>MANILA - Instead of issuing a cease and desist order, the National Telecommunications Commission should have first asked ABS-CBN to explain why it should be allowed to continue broadcasting when its franchise lapses, a retired Chief Justice said on Sunday. “The more prudent thing to do, and I hope I&#x27;m not being disrespectful to them (NTC), is to first issue a show cause order,” retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno said in an interview with ABS-CBN&#x27;s Teleradyo. Puno said that if it were up to him, he would have issued a show cause order first, as a cease and desist order is immediate and executory and does not give ABS-CBN the chance to argue its case. Puno served as Supreme Court Chief Justice from December 2006 to May 2010.“Malaki pagkakaiba. Kung &#x27;yan ang ginawa nila ay nabigyan ng pagkakataon ang ABS-CBN na sabihin ang kanilang panig at gayun din siguro nabigyan ng pagkakataon ang Kongreso na mag-intervene,” Puno said.(There’s a big difference. If they had done that, ABS-CBN would have been given the chance to air its side and Congress would have been given the chance to intervene.)The former Chief Justice said a show cause order would have avoided problems for ABS-CBN such as the possibility of the company having to lay off thousands of workers. Puno meanwhile said that it is not clear if the Constitution allows Congress to grant a provisional authority for a broadcast company to continue operations. He said that while lawmakers said that a resolution issued by both the Senate and the House of Representatives should be enough to grant provisional authority to ABS-CBN, some oppose this view saying that only a law will suffice.“Ako, ang kuwan ko lang diyan, klaro &#x27;yun eh &#x27;yung Kongreso has a power to grant a franchise. That is the bigger power di ba? Ngayon pag sinabi na: &quot;Wala naman sa inyo to power to grant provisional authority,&quot; eh &#x27;yung smaller power na &#x27;yun, &#x27;yung grant ng provisional authority, &#x27;yun ay kasama yun sa greater power to grant a franchise,” Puno said. (As for me, it is clear that Congress has a power to grant a franchise. That is the bigger power, right? Now if you say: “You don’t have the power to grant provisional authority,” but that is the smaller power, to grant provisional authority, that is already included in the greater power to grant a franchise.)“In other words, ang jurisprudence diyan, ang desisyon ng korte, (the jurisprudence there, the decision of the court) yung (the) power to grant a franchise includes necessary, proper and incidental power to effectuate the power of Congress to grant a franchise.” House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday blamed the NTC and Solicitor General Jose Calida over the shutdown of ABS-CBN’s broadcast operations after the company’s franchise lapsed. Cayetano said “there will be a <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/08/20/alan-peter-cayetano-speaks-blames-ntc-for-abs-cbn-shutdown" target="_blank">reckoning</a>” over the cease and desist order.He also said that the House legislative franchise committee would conduct hearings that are &quot;fair, impartial, thorough, and comprehensive&quot; on the ABS-CBN franchise.Cayetano did not say when these hearings were scheduled.

Instead of issuing a cease and desist order, the National Telecommunications Commission should have first asked ABS-CBN to explain why it should be allowed to continue broadcasting when its franchise lapses, a retired Chief Justice said on Sunday.

Instead of issuing a cease and desist order, the National Telecommunications Commission should have first asked ABS-CBN to explain why it should be allowed to continue broadcasting when its franchise lapses, a retired Chief Justice said on Sunday.