ABS-CBN Franchise Hearings:

Gerry Baja of Teleradyo whips up a lively incisive interview.

File from last week (June 30)

                         Notes:

      When a quasi-judicial agency … (quasi-judicial agencies are parts of the Executive Branch that adjudicate rights and privileges of parties affected by their functions) when a quasi-judicial agency renders a decision adverse to a party, the party adversely affected may normally appeal such decision with the Office of the President (quasi-judicial agencies are parts of the executive branch) or… if circumstances show that such an appeal to the Office of the President would be futile, an APPEAL   from a decision of the quasi-judicial agency may be filed with the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court.

       Where there is a violation of a CLEAR LEGAL RIGHT, such as for example, a violation of any of your rights under the Bill of Rights, the remedy is to file a special civil action (an example is a petition for certiorari and prohibition with application for a preliminary injunction and TRO): For this, the following have jurisdiction: The Regional Trial Court (if the agency is located within its territorial jurisdiction) or the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court. In other words, any of the regular courts from the RTC to the CA to the SC has jurisdiction and can issue TROs against any agency (for the RTC, if within its territorial jurisdiction).

     So, appeals, and special civil actions, are different from each other —    we leave it to the handling lawyers of the ABS-CBN case to strategize, they know best (i never second-guess colleagues in the profession handling a specific case). Sorry for the lawyer talk.

     During one of the franchise hearings last week, there was an allegation from one of the congressmen that AMCARA (which has its own franchise ) was a dummy of ABS-CBN supposedly because it has its office on the Scout Esguerra-Mother-Ignacia compound and it does not have its own giant transmitter.
Check it out: That compound and the one in Rockwell have dozens and dozens of tenants: Coffeeshops, call center hubs, clothes retail stores, canteen concessionaires , etc. Are tenants dummies of the space-owners they are leasing? Tell me.

      Many franchise holders also do not have their own transmitters and are just renting other people’s transmitters. Are lessees of equipment, dummies of their lessors? Tell me.

    A dummy means the corporation or person has assigned its/his/her interests, or the ownership of the company, to its principal…

      the principal or the dummer ( 😊 i just made up the word dummer…dummee)
In Fraport (a German company) vs. Philippines, the party Philippines was able to show that several deeds of assignment had been issued by Filipino shareholders in favor of Fraport assigning their interests to Fraport (making said Filipino shareholders, dummies of Fraport, a German company).

      If you want to show dummyhood, you must show that the owners are not the real owners or that they have assigned their interests.

        (From the files, last week’s interview, June 30,  a few hours after the NTC Commissioner said it was mulling an “alias” CDO against ABS-CBN, in the style of an alias warrant of arrest or alias summons. (an alias warrant of arrest or alias summons is issued by the judge when the original arrest warrant or summons was never served.)

     The next day, the NTC did issue an order to stop the TV Plus channels on AMCARA frequency — typing the word “ORDER” in big letters , then they put a small parenthesis with small letters …

                  “Alias Order”.  

Nahiya nang konti kaya naka-parenthesis and in  small font.

       I’m off to work… i’m off-cuffing…
From the files… The theme song used to intro the program and the interview was “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees…

    June 30 Interview, before NTC  summarily, without a hearing,  CDO’ed  or stopped ABS-CBN from airing its TV Plus  programs on Amcara frequency (Amcara, holding the Amcara frequency, is not bound by that CDO. NTC further has no contempt powers. Wala po siyang contempt powers, wala po).