No politics in radio stations’ closure, insist Isabela’s Dys

CAUAYAN CITY, Isabela — The politically powerful Dy family here has denied that they were behind the Feb. 12 closure of two radio stations here known to be critical to their administration.

Taking the cudgels for the clan, Cauayan City Mayor Cezar Dy said he was compelled to order the temporary closure of dzNC Bombo Radyo AM and its sister-station, dwIT Star FM, "not for political reasons but because of their failure to comply with basic and simple city ordinances."

He said the two radio stations, both located in Barangay Minante Dos here, were "obviously’ mocking government laws" by operating without business permits and zoning clearances from the city government.

Dy said the stations also failed to secure a land conversion permit from the Department of Agrarian Reform and a city council resolution when they erected their new building in an area classified by the city government as an agricultural land.

"We gave them enough time to produce these requirements but still they failed to comply," said Dy, brother of third district Rep. Faustino Dy III and Gov. Faustino Dy Jr.

Mayor Dy added that the two radio stations were among 11 radio stations nationwide which the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has ordered indefinitely shut down after they were found to be operating with expired congressional franchises.

But Bombo Radyo station manager Charmy Sabigan, who earlier described the closure as a "suppression of press freedom," accused the Dys of resorting to political vendetta.

She claimed that Mayor Dy had personal motives in shutting down the two radio stations.

The mayor, she said, disregarded their request for more time to secure clearances for their operations.

Dy, however, said there was nothing personal in his order. "If the law calls for their closure, then I am duty-bound to execute it," he said.

Bombo Radyo got the ire of the Dys when it supported its former assistant station manager, Grace Padaca, who ran against Faustino Dy III, then the city mayor, in the third congressional district elections.

Dy won by a slim margin. Padaca has a pending electoral protest.

The Bombo Radyo management said the Dys had resorted to political pressure, resulting in the NTC ordering the closure of their stations.

Bombo Radyo has been on air here for over 35 years, almost as old as the Dys’ political stronghold in this major rice-producing province.

The stations, Mayor Dy said, can resume their operations "provided they have all the papers the law requires them to produce."