Atty. Christian Monsod is of the opinion that the
House of Representatives should have cited the National Telecommunications Commission
(NTC) for its non-attendance of the last week’s inquiry regarding the franchise
renewal of the Lopez controlled ABS-CBN Corporation.
Atty. Monsod is one of the framers of the 1987
Philippine Constitution, said NTC and the Office of the Solicitor General has
invoked the time honored law principle of sub judice, which restricts comments
and discussion that might influence the court, due to a pending quo warranto
petition before the Supreme Court by the latter.
The sub judice rule is not applicable as the
Congress has "a right to conduct its hearings, Monsod said.
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"That’s a very lame excuse
because the NTC testified in Congress and he’ll only be asked about that
testimony in Congress. That’s a proper point of inquiry by Congress," he
told ANC.
"I was wondering why
Congress did not do that. They should have (cited NTC in contempt) for refusing
to answer questions on the ground of sub judice," he added when asked if
the agency should have been held in contempt.
NTC earlier said it did not intend to cause any “confusion”
when it issued the Cease and Desist order which led to the shutdown of ABS-CBN,
despite a previous promise was given that it would grant a provisional
franchise.
NTC explains that th grant of such provisional
franchise would be tantamount to “encroaching” on Congress’ exclusive power
over legislative franchises.
Monsod said SolGen Jose Calida has “preempted” Congress
by questioning ABS-CBN's franchise before the high court.
"Let’s assume that he is
sincere in what he’s doing, but he cannot preempt Congress. That’s where he’s
wrong, by filing a quo warranto and then going to Congress and saying I cannot
answer questions because there’s a pending case in the Supreme Court," he said.
"If there is a violation of
sub judice rule, I think Congress should continue and it’s up to the Supreme
Court to tell Congress it’s sub judice and I’m sure the Supreme Court will not
do that."
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Report from ABS-CBN News
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