Some congressional leaders are vainly pushing a dubious empty bag to ABS-CBN Corporation by suggesting that the network can secure a provisional authority from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) even after the expiration of the effectivity of its legislative franchise.

The NTC cannot on its own resurrect an expired legislative franchise by granting a former grantee a “provisional authority to operate”.

Only holders of a valid, existing and/or renewed franchise can apply with the NTC for a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN).

Instead of giving ABS-CBN an illusory remedy, the House of Representatives must expedite the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise which has long been pending in the House committee on legislative franchises.

The effectivity of ABS-CBN’s 25-year franchise commences 15 days after its publication in two newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines or it expires soon after March 20, 2020.

The opinion that a franchisee can continue its operations as long as it has a pending application for renewal and the current Congress has not adjourned sine die is based on an alleged practice which can be challenged in court because it is not validated by jurisprudence.

Section 16 of R.A. No. 7925 or the “Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines” unequivocally provides that “no person shall commence or conduct the business of being a public telecommunications entity without first obtaining a franchise.”

The settled rule is no franchise, no operation.

Section 16 further provides that “a CPCN expiring at the same time as a franchise shall be deemed to have been renewed for the same term if the franchise itself is also renewed or extended.”

Consequently, a CPCN automatically expires with the expiration of the franchise and no CPCN can be extended when the franchise has expired.

Moreover, the NTC 2006 Rules of Practice of Procedure provides under Sec. 2 of Rule 7 that “when the application is predicated on a franchise . . . such franchise or contract shall be impleaded in the application by alleging in substance its salient provisions, appending to the application a copy of the same.”

The franchise to be impleaded in the application with NTC must be a valid, existing and/or renewed franchise.

A franchisee of a television network is mandated to secure from the NTC the appropriate permits and licenses for its operation.

Consistent with this policy, Sec. 3 of R.A No. 7966, which granted ABS-CBN its franchise, pertinently provides that the “grantee (ABS-CBN) shall secure from the National Telecommunications Commission the appropriate permits and licenses”.

An existing, valid and/or renewed franchise is a condition precedent for the grantee to secure from the NTC the necessary permits and licenses.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN