Anti-red tape execs appeal suspension

MANILA, Philippines — Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) director general Jeremiah Belgica and four other officials of the agency yesterday filed a joint motion for reconsideration (MR) before the Office of the Ombudsman to appeal their six-month preventive suspension over a graft complaint filed by DITO Telecommunications Corp.

While opting not to elaborate on the arguments they raised in their MR, Belgica maintained that they are “not corrupt and were just performing (their) job.”

He said apart from their MR, they also filed before the ombudsman their joint counter-affidavit explaining “what really transpired” behind their decision in approving the assignment of contingent frequencies in favor of Now Telecom Co. Inc. (NOWTel).

Belgica, however, said they would comply with the suspension order even if it has yet to be served to them by the office of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

“Though we filed our appeal, out of delicadeza we will no longer go to work for now. We have high respect to the ombudsman. I don’t doubt the credibility of the ombudsman, but I think our appeal can help clarify the matter,” Belgica told reporters in Filipino after the filing of their MR and joint affidavit.

The ombudsman’s six-month preventive suspension order, released over the weekend, stemmed from the graft complaint filed by DITO, represented by its chief administrative officer, lawyer Adel Tamano.

The complaint was in connection with ARTA’s March 1, 2021 resolution ordering the assignment of contingent frequencies in favor of NOWTel even if the same frequencies were supposedly already assigned by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to DITO as the country’s new major player (NMP) or third telco player.

In its suspension order, the ombudsman said the records of the case showed that while NOWTel purchased bidding documents, it did not participate in the NMP selection process.

Despite this, the ombudsman noted NOWTel filed a complaint against NTC commissioner Gamaliel Cordova before the ARTA on May 18, 2020, seeking the automatic approval of its various requests for frequency assignments that had already been assigned to DITO as NMP.

The ARTA, on March 1, 2021 issued a “Resolution and Order of Automatic Approval,” directing the assignment of contingent frequencies in favor of NOWTel.

Aside from Belgica, also ordered suspended for six months by the ombudsman were ARTA deputy director general Eduardo Bringas, directors Jedrek Ng and Melamy Salvadora-Asperin and division chief Sheryl Pura-Sumagui.

Belgica, in a press statement issued after the filing of their appeal, explained that NOWTel is a domestic public telecommunications company earlier granted a legislative franchise by Congress.

“The legislative franchise gave NOWTel the right to construct, install, establish, operate and maintain lease, purchase and carry on the business of providing telecommunications, including electronic communications and electronic communications, services throughout the Philippines and between the Philippines and other countries... for public domestic and international communications,” he said.

Belgica pointed out the NTC did not assign frequencies to NOWTel despite a letter of application and repeated requests by the company, prompting the latter to file a complaint before ARTA on May 30, 2020.

“On 1 March 2021, ARTA issued an Order of Automatic Approval declaring the completeness of NOWTel’s application and deemed the same as automatically approved by operation of law and directed NTC to issue the provisional authority and the concomitant frequencies as prayed for in the original letter application,” he said.

“We would like to clarify that the approval or denial of application (for frequencies) still depends on the concerned agency. But if the application was not acted upon despite the completeness of documents, that’s where the ARTA comes in. We had no intention to usurp the power of the NTC to assign frequencies to NOWTel,” he added in Filipino.