Senate to vote on Mislatel franchise
Credit to Author: BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO| Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2019 17:56:38 +0000
THE Senate would decide on Wednesday, February 6, if it would transfer the ownership of Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company Inc. (Mislatel) to a consortium chosen by the government as the third telecommunications company in the country, Sen. Grace Poe said on Tuesday.
Poe said the Senate would vote on House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 23, which seeks the transfer of Mislatel’s ownership to the consortium owned by Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp., Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp., and state-owned China Telecom.
The senator, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Services, presented the HCR 23 to the Senate plenary on Monday night for debates.
“I sponsored it. It will still go through a vote. The reason why we did this is because this is the mandate of the Senate. I cannot decide on it as chairman [alone]. It has to be the collective wisdom of the body,” said Poe in a television interview.
Poe said her panel removed any reference to Mislatel as the third telco or the new major player since the validity of its franchise could still be questioned in courts.
“We took out anything that pertains to calling Mislatel a new major player or third telco. We’re treating it as a regular franchise because later on someone might go to the court and say Congress recognized Mislatel as the third telco,” she added.
Poe said she sponsored the measure because of the public’s “desperation” to have a new player that promises better services and because she feels it would be “unfair” not to present it on the floor to allow senators to debate on the issue.
“We are all anxious to have a fast internet. It’s for national interest that I’m doing this,” she said.
Poe said the resolution did not preclude Congress from altering, modifying, amending or repealing Mislatel’s franchise granted under Republic Act 8627 should it fail to make good its commitments regarding coverage and internet speed.
It also did not mean an automatic renewal of its franchise that was set to expire in 2023, she added.
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