Declaration of Mislatel as third telco can now proceed —DICT’s Rio

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. said Saturday the process to declare Mislatel Consortium as the third telco player can now proceed as Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and Singson-led Sear Telecom no longer pursued to appeal their respective disqualifications before the National Telecommunications Communications (NTC).

"Hinintay lang namin kahapon ang pagdating ng appeal ng PT&T dahil ito 'yung kailangan pang mabigyan ng lunas para makagawa na tayo ng confirmation order sa provisional new player," Rio said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

"At matatanggal na 'yung provisional. Siya na 'yung new major player subject to some more... 'yung paggawa niya ng organisasyon niya, pagbibigay niya ng performance bond," he said.

On November 7, the NTC declared the Mislatel Consortium—composed of Dennis Uy's Udenna Corp., its subsidiary Chelsea Logistics, franchise holder Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co., and foreign partner China Telecom—was declared as the provisional third telco. 

On Friday, third telco aspirant PT&T filed a petition before the Supreme Court to reverse its disqualification in the selection process for the third telco initiative. 

The petition for certiorari assailed the NTC and the selection committee for the new major player for "grave abuse of discretion" when they refused to certify that PT&T has the required technical capability to take part in the bidding.

"So kahapon po hindi ho dumating 'yung appeal o 'yung motion for reconsideration ng PT&T. Ang binigay sa NTC ay isang sulat na hindi na ho sila magbibigay ng appeal but they will go directly to the Supreme Court," Rio said.

In a letter to the NTC, the lawyers of PT&T belonging to the Zamora and Poblador Law Offices informed the commission of the SC petition and asked it to "secure the location or material where the First and Second Submission Packages are currently stored in order to preserve the integrity of the selection process."

"That does not anymore affect the selection process dahil labas na ho ang pagpunta nila (PT&T) sa Supreme Court doon sa proseso na nasa terms of reference. Hindi na nila (PT&T) ire-refute 'yung decision ng selection committee na disqualified sila," Rio said.

Meanwhile, Sear Telecom — the consortium of TierOne Communications International and Chavit Singson-led LCS Group of Companies —said Wednesday it will no longer appeal the decision of the NTC to disqualify the group from the third telco selection process. 

"'Yung Sears, Thursday pa ho, hindi na sila nag-appeal. As far as Sears is concerned tapos na po sila sa proseso. Kung pupunta sila sa korte o hindi that is their decision," Rio said.

The NTC, on Tuesday, denied the appeals of PT&T and Sear Telecom regarding their disqualification from the third telco selection process. 

SEAR Telecom was disqualified when its bid documents, opened on November 7, did not include the required participation security of P700 million.

PT&T's bid, meanwhile, was rejected as its documents did not include a certificate of technical capability.

"So as far as NTC is concerned, tuloy na ang paglakad ng proseso and the next step is 'yung pagbigay ng NTC en banc ng confirmation order sa Mislatel na puwede na silang mag-proceed sa pagkuha ng papeles, pagbuo ng organisasyon, pagkuha ng SEC approval sa organization niya, Philippine Competition Commission at iba pang agency," Rio said, noting that Mislatel has 90 days to complete the requirements.

Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services, on Saturday said the Senate will continue with its hearing to ensure that the process of choosing the third telco was in order.

"May hearing tayo kasi gusto natin masiguro na ang nanalo diyan ay talagang karapat-dapat at maayos ang bidding kasi sa ating mga kababayan gusto natin mura ang kanilang babayaran sa internet at sa cellphone. Ayaw na natin ng dropped calls, nauubos ang load," Poe said in a radio interview.

"Ito ang paraan para maayos natin kaya gusto kong siguraduhin na walang kurakot dito at walang gumagawa ng kalokohan," she added. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News