House sets deliberations on SMNI franchise in Jan. 2024

The House Committee on Legislative Franchises will start deliberations on the bill seeking to revoke the franchise of Swara Sug Media Corp., which operates Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), in January 2024.

House Committee on Legislative Franchises chair and Parañaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting was referring to House Bill (HB) 9710, which seeks to revoke Swara Sug's franchise over its alleged willful dissemination of false information, and transfer of ownership without congressional approval, among others. House Bill 9710 was filed by 1-Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez.

"We will resume [deliberations] in January," Tambunting said, adding that his committee will also issue a subpoena to Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church, to participate in the deliberations on Gutierrez's bill seeking revocation of the Swara Sug franchise.

"We can [issue] a subpoena [against Quiboloy] if needed... maybe during the process of the hearing of the bill, then that's the time we will ask for his presence," he added.

One of the grounds cited by Gutierrez's bill seeking revocation of the Swara Sug franchise is SMNI's admission that it transitioned from a non-stock, non-profit corporation to a corporation solely under Quiboloy in 2006 before transferring the said controlling stake to Bro. Marlon Acobo in 2023.

Gutierrez, a lawyer, argued that the requirement of congressional approval for such acts is provided under Section 10 of Republic Act 11422, which granted Swara Sug its franchise, states that the franchise grantee "should not sell, lease, transfer, grant the usufruct of, nor assign this franchise or the rights and privileges acquired thereunder to any person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity, nor merge with any other corporation or entity, nor shall transfer the controlling interest of the grantee, simultaneously or contemporaneously, to any person, firm, company, corporation, or entity without the prior approval of the Congress of the Philippines."

Gutierrez's bill was filed amid a congressional inquiry conducted on Swara Sug franchise, following an SMNI broadcast wherein its program hosts, Eric Celiz and Lorraine Badoy, said Speaker Martin Romualdez of Leyte has P1.8 billion worth of travel funds according to a "source."

Celiz has since said the source was wrong. He initially refused to name that source and was held in contempt and detained along with Badoy over their failure to answer the lawmakers’ question and disrespectful behavior in the committee.

He eventually disclosed his source to Tambunting, apologized for his actions, and asked for a furlough to attend to his ailing mother.

The House then decided to free Celiz and Badoy on humanitarian considerations.

SMNI's lawyer Mark Tolentino, for his part, has maintained that SMNI did not violate its franchise and that discrepancies in corporate filings were not willful. However, Tambunting disagreed.

"Attorney Tolentino is entitled to his own opinion. We've seen the proceedings. Alam naman natin kung sino ang nagsasabi ng totoo (We know who has been seeking the truth). The violations were very clear: Sections 4, 10, 11, 12. [And it has been cleared that the Office of the Speaker did not spend such an amount of travel funds]," Tambunting said.

"I don't want to preempt the committee members on how they are going to decide on the revocation of SMNI (Swara Sug) franchise, but it may be logical that since they asked for the suspension through the NTC, they will also vote for the revocation," Tambunting added, referring to the House Resolution already adopted by the House plenary urging the National Telecommunications Commission to suspend Swara Sug's franchise over franchise violations, including deliberate dissemination of false information. — VDV, GMA Integrated News