Malacañang confirms resignation of National Telecommunications head

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang has confirmed that National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) head Ruel Canobas tendered his resignation for personal reasons.

Secretary Gabriel Claudio, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Executive Secretary, said the Office of the President had received the resignation letter of Canobas before President Arroyo left for the United States last Wednesday.

He said Canobas claimed that he had to attend to his wife who underwent an operation for a gynecological ailment several weeks ago.

Since the President is not around, Claudio said that the resignation has yet to be acted on.

“The President did not get the chance to address this particular matter,” he said.

The resignation of Canobas came amid a series of issues related to the NTC, particularly on the operations of the mobile phone network operators.

Senate probes were conducted to look into various complaints coming from consumers, such as vanishing prepaid loads and the proliferation of spam text messages.       – Marvin Sy