MANILA – The Court of Appeals (CA) junked the petition filed by Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) that sought to stop the 30-day suspension order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against the network for its alleged violations of its franchise terms.
In a five-page resolution promulgated on January 4, Thursday, but only made public on Sunday, the 14th Division of the CA dismissed the petition for certiorari and mandamus with the application for a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction filed by Swara Sug Media Corp., which does business and broadcasting under the name SMNI, through its counsels led by Rolex Suplico.
The court said that the petition warrants an outright dismissal because SMNI failed to exhaust all remedies, such as filing a motion for reconsideration with the NTC before filing a petition for certiorari, prohibition and mandamus.
It said that SMNI must first show, among others, that they do not have any other “plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law” based on the Rules of Court.
“Petitioners may not arrogate to themselves the determination of whether a motion for reconsideration is necessary or not,” the court said.
The CA said the NTC “was not given any opportunity to rectify whatever error it may have made or to address the ascription and aspersion of grave abuse of discretion thrown at it by petitioners.” “Thus, their failure to file a motion for reconsideration before filing the present petition is a fatal infirmary,” it said.
In its petition, SMNI, the broadcast media arm of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) led by Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, said that the NTC violated the Constitution in ordering its suspension based on a resolution of the House of Representatives.
The suspension order stemmed from House Resolution 1499, which states that SMNI violated provisions of its franchise, specifically Section 4, that restrains the network from using its facilities to propagate false information.
The order came after allegations were made by SMNI hosts Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Celiz that Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez spent P1.8 billion on foreign travel between January and October last year.
