Isabela radio station shut down anew

CAUAYAN City, Isabela — Now you hear it, now you don’t.

For the third time this year, the city government shut down Bombo Radyo dzNC Cauayan yesterday for lacking a mayor’s permit.

Grace Padaca, who is expected to be proclaimed next week as Isabela’s governor-elect, used to be a Bombo Radyo commentator.

At the helm of the city government, incidentally, is Mayor Caesar Dy, half-brother of Gov. Faustino Dy Jr., whom Padaca trounced in the gubernatorial race and who vowed to bring his case against her all the way to the Supreme Court.

Bombo Radyo dzNC went off the air at about 8:49 a.m. yesterday.

Its closure order came as the election period ended midnight Wednesday, bringing back to the city government the authority to close down business establishments, including radio and television stations, within its jurisdiction for lack of business permits.

The city government first shut down Bombo Radyo dzNC on Jan. 17 this year but the Commission on Elections (Comelec), pursuant to its authority vested by the Omnibus Election Code, ordered city officials, under threat of contempt, to bring the radio station back on air.

Under Section 86 of the Omnibus Election Code, the Comelec is empowered to ensure that "no franchise or permit to operate a radio or television station shall be suspended or canceled during the election period."

On the eve of the May 10 elections, the Comelec, in a controversial resolution signed by Commissioners Rufino Javier and Manuel Barcelona, sustained the right of the city government to stop the operation of Bombo Radyo dzNC which was perceived to be supporting Padaca’s gubernatorial bid.

Six days after the second closure, the Comelec en banc reversed the earlier resolution and allowed the radio station to operate until June 9.

In the new closure order, Mayor Dy said the Comelec no longer has jurisdiction over the radio station because the election period officially ended last Wednesday, and that the city government has the right to regulate business establishments within its jurisdiction.

As of yesterday, Bombo Radyo was operating without any mayor’s permit and license in violation of Ordinance No. 92-005, the closure order stated.

City administrator Chito Meer, who served the closure order at about 8:30 yesterday, said the radio station also violated the city’s zoning ordinance requiring businesses to operate in declared commercial areas.

The city government said it could not issue a mayor’s permit to Bombo Radyo dzNC because its management has failed to submit documents proving that the one-hectare lot where the radio station’s broadcast center stands, is a commercial lot.

"We have given them several months to produce the conversion order issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform exempting the lot from the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program but they failed to do so," Meer told The STAR.