PT&T pins hope on SC

Just recently, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) confirmed the consortium of Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co., Udenna Corp., Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp., and China Telecommunications Corp. as the new major telecommunications industry player in the country.

According to Information and Communications Technology OIC Eliseo Rio, NTC’s disposal of appeals against the award to Mislatel paved the way for the latter’s confirmation as the country’s third major telco player.

Last Nov. 7, Mislatel secured provisional third telco rights after the NTC disqualified Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Co. (PT&T) and Sear of former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson.

But then, of course, decisions of quasi-judicial bodies like the NTC are appealable to the Supreme Court.

According to PT&T chief information officer Hilarion Cajucom Jr., the company last Nov. 16 filed a petition for certiorari with the SC as it assailed the acts of the NTC and the NMP Selection Committee committed during the selection process for the third telco bidding.

The NTC said it disqualified PT&T after it failed to produce a certification of 10 years experience.

PT&T, Cajucom said, primarily argued that the NMP Selection Committee gravely erred when it interpreted the term “regional operations” under the rules and regulations (MC No. 09-09-2018) as applicable only to foreign companies, effectively preventing any domestic corporation from participating in the third telco bidding. 

He also explained that while PT&T’s grievances are against the NTC and NMP Selection Committee, PT&T has also impleaded the Mislatel consortium as respondents in its petition because the corporations constituting said consortium are real parties in interest.

Cajucom pointed out that PT&T’s operation has been continuous even during its rehabilitation, as he emphasized that the intent of going through a rehabilitation is not to stop operations, but rather to continue to operate in view of getting better.  

He said that there are several major companies that did go under rehabilitation, including Philippine Airlines (PAL), that never ceased its operations.

He said PT&T was granted an early exit by the rehabilitation court last August. 

According to Cajucom, PT&T will continue to look after what is good for the Philippine telecommunication industry and is hopeful that its petition will be acted upon favorably. “We hope that the Supreme Court will act swiftly on the petition in view of the transcendental importance of the selection of the new major player in the telecommunications market,” he said.

Duterte’s legacy

If there is one legacy that the Duterte administration will be able to leave behind with much pride, it is the rehabilitation of Boracay Island.

Prior to its closure last April 26, Boracay was a “cesspool.” The coliform level, or bacteria from feces, in the front beach was at 900 most probable number (MPN) per 100 milliliter (ml). A few days after Boracay reopened last Nov. 26, Environmental Secretary Roy Cimatu told this writer the level was down to 18.

Two years’ ago, I vowed never to swim again in the waters of Boracay’s White Beach which was full of slimy green algae. The water smelled like shit, literally. And not only that, the human traffic was also already close to unbearable. It was pure chaos. I had to go to Puka Beach to swim just to escape all that madness.

I stayed at Astoria Current, owned by my friend Jeffrey Ng, and which I heard was the favorite hotel in Boracay not only of President Duterte, but also of other members of the Cabinet and even DENR personnel. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that one day, I would lie down on a beach mat on Boracay’s sands just in front of Astoria, sunbathe without fear of being trampled upon by passersby. The water was so clean and smelled so good. Small fishes were nibbling at my toes. I can walk on the beach without hitting anybody passing by on the arms or shoulders. The noise came from the beach goers, not from the ladies offering massage and hair braiding services, nor from vendors peddling their wares.

Secretary Cimatu is confident that this state of Boracay is sustainable, even beyond the term of President Duterte.

But, of course, there are complaints, like those coming from drivers of e-tricycles who say that there is only one recharging station which is charging a fortune.

But Secretary Cimatu said they are looking at cheaper suppliers of locally made batteries. Right now, he explained that Boracay has a combination of the old gasoline-powered tricycles and e-trikes because there are not enough e-trikes at the moment, but soon, all the old tricycles would have to be phased out.

Traffic is also so bad at the main road because of ongoing constructions, as well as partial road closures. Imagine it takes as much as an hour from Station 1 to CityMall, which in the past ordinarily would take only maybe 15 minutes. This is a temporary inconvenience. In fairness, they are working so fast on the road improvements that by end of the year, most of the main road will be newly paved.

From the readers

As mining is carried out in public land, I propose that government should require mining companies to also do land rehabilitation cum reforestation on sites suitable for planting of timber trees.

I think the current requirement of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) for mining companies to do land rehabilitation, especially in open-pit sites, is useless, and hardly implementable. What is needed is serious investment in timber tree plantations, where there is good prospect of making profit for the investors, while bringing back degraded land into production.

There are existing technologies to enable growth of selected tree species for timber harvest in eight to 10 years. There are also at least six million hectares of degraded/deforested land in the country. These lands also offer good prospects for mineral production, along side land restoration/rehabilitation works.

My point is: mining, whether open-pit or underground, must not be restricted, but with the additional requirement that each company will also invest in commercially viable tree plantation/reforestation projects. The investors will be allowed to profit from both mining and forestry.

Tax impositions could be done. But incentives could also be given to those investors who will rehabilitate the land and make the otherwise degraded land productive. – Oscar Gendrano, former forestry specialist, Asian Development Bank.

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