Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said it is now up to the Senate whether to allow ABS-CBN network to operate.
He said he will no longer give the legal opinion sought by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) which wanted to know if ABS-CBN should be allowed to operate once the network’s legislative franchise lapses while its renewal remains pending.
“The determination of the rights of a broadcast company after the expiration of its franchise but pending congressional deliberations on its renewal belongs to the realm of the legislature over which the SOJ has no revisory authority,” he said.
Prior to the Senate hearing on the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, the NTC has asked the Department of Justice (DoJ) for a legal opinion whether to allow or not the ABS-CBN to operate once its legislative franchise expires thisMay 4 while the Senate is yet to decide on the matter.
DoJ Undersecretary Markk Perete backed the position of Guevarra, saying that the secretary’s power to issue legal opinions “includes the power to decline rendering one, especially in cases when the right of private persons or entities may be affected, or when the query may relate to a justiciable controversy.”
Perete explained the legal opinion of the secretary should “not preempt courts from passing upon the validity or invalidity of private rights claimed, and intrude in the court’s power of resolving justiciable controversies.” (Jeffrey Damicog)