SONSHINE Media Network Inc. (SMNI) is elevating its appeal of its suspension directly to the Office of the President after the denial of its motion for reconsideration by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), a lawyer for the network said in a Manila Times report.
Interviewed on the Times’ online program “Business and Politics” on Sunday, abogado Mark Tolentino was quoted in the report as saying the network’s legal team “wants to know the stand of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. since the MTRCB is under the Office of the President.”
“We filed a motion for reconsideration with the case of the NTC (National Telecommunication Commission) because they indefinitely suspended the operations of SMNI,” Tolentino added.
“We argued in our motion for reconsideration that there was a denial of due process.” Tolentino was further quoted as saying.
SMNI is owned by religious leader Apollo Quiboloy, spiritual adviser of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to the lawyer, the NTC “should give us an opportunity to explain why we should not be suspended.”
“There should be due process of law, especially that there is a jurisprudence that any order that affects the freedom of the press is presumed unconstitutional,” Tolentino added.
He recalled that the legal team petitioned the Court of Appeals to block the NTC move but it was denied on jurisdictional grounds, as SMNI should have filed the appeal with the commission first.
Tolentino clarified that there was no final decision on the SMNI case to date.
“It’s not yet final and executory. We have all the legal remedies available,” he said.
In December, the MTRCB provisionally suspended two SMNI shows: “Laban Kasama ang Bayan” and “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa,” hosted by Duterte.
Later, the NTC suspended the channel from airing for 30 days, citing violations of its franchise.
