Drilon says Mislatel franchise is void due to violation

Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Thursday that the franchise of Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company (Mislatel), part of the consortium which has been chosen as the country’s third telecommunication player, is void "ipso facto."

Drilon said Mislatel, which has been granted franchise in April 1998, was not able to operate within a year from the grant of franchise.

“The franchise is a privilege and one of the condition is you must operate within one year and operate continuously,” he said during the resumption of the Senate public services committee hearing on the third telco.

“Mislatel is basically a paper corporation,” he added.

Nicanor Escalente, Mislatel president and chief executive officer, said sometime in 2001, the company was given a provisional authority to operate in Parang, Maguindanao.

“The company was ready to roll out in 2003 but the peace and order situation did not allow the company to roll out. The company did not operate somewhere else,” he said upon the questioning of Drilon.

Drilon said that is a violation of the franchise.

“The (Mislatel) franchise is ipso facto revoked. You would agree with me that the franchise of Mislatel is revoked for failure to operate,” he said, "ipso facto" meaning "by the fact itself."

He added a valid franchise is a requirement of the National Telecommunication  Commission before allowing a company to operate.

The senator also questioned the failure of the company to seek congressional approval to change control.

He said Section 15 of the franchise of Mislatel states that the congressional approval should be given before sale, lease, or transfer of control to allow Congress to scrutinize the ability of the grantee to follow the franchise requirements.

Escalente said they did not seek approval as they were just invited as additional shareholder.

But Drilon said it seems Escalante and his group now have the control as they hold 70 percent of the shares since 2015.

“It look likes the control (of Mislatel) has been transferred to the group of Mr. Escalante without  congressional approval.  The transfer of this control is void because of lack of congressional approval,” the senator said. — MDM, GMA News