Eliseo Rio chides lawyer over petition vs selection process for 3rd telco

MANILA, Philippines — The chief of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has criticized a petition made by a private lawyer to the Supreme Court contesting the government’s awarding of the third telecommunications slot to a consortium led by businessman Dennis Uy and state-owned China Telecom.

Information and Communications Technology Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio in a social media post yesterday said the points stated by Marlon Anthony Tonson in a 44-page petition-in-intervention filed last Dec. 17 before the Supreme Court could have been raised during the consultations in the crafting of the terms of reference (TOR) of the new major player selection process.

“The consultations for the TOR were open and public allowing inputs from interested parties. During those numerous public consultations and hearings, from February to September, the petitioner could have easily raised his concerns then but instead he has belated questioned the TOR only after the bidding and awarding were concluded,” Rio said.

Rio claimed that the bidding for the country’s third telco player “was the most transparent, publicly participated TOR ever crafted.” 

“The fact that there were 10 applicants that bought the bidding documents at a non-refundable amount of P1 million is a testament to this. Also, only one, NOW, of the 10 applicants, complained about the P700 million participation security, which is being echoed by the petitioner, when it is now moot and academic. And not one of those who actually bidded complained about the performance security,” he said.

Rio said all issues being raised by the private lawyer in his petition to intervene in the Supreme Court have been addressed by the TOR of the selection process, which all stakeholders, including consumer groups, participated in crafting.

Tonson supported the petition filed by disqualified bidder Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. last November that challenged the legality of the decision of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to close the bidding process and to officially award the third telco franchise to the Mislatel consortium.

The petitioner asked the high court to annul and set aside the awarding to Mislatel consortium of the third telco slot due to violations of the 1987 Constitution in the bidding procedure implemented by the NTC, particularly the selection rules under Memorandum Circular No. 09-09-18.

Rio, however, said undoing the selection process will “ultimately derail the goal of achieving better and cheaper telco services for the Philippines.”

He said the country would need competition and investment, which the new major player has vowed to provide, to have better and cheaper telco services.

As far as security issues are concerned, Rio said an important provision in the TOR was inputted by the National Security Adviser which requires the winner to assure the government that its network will not be a source of threat to national and cybersecurity. 

He said the assurance is part of the post-qualification requirements.