ON APRIL 19, 2022, Emerald Investments Inc. (EMERALD) filed a criminal complaint before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against the officials of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for violation of Fair Election Act and the Omnibus Election Code.
Emerald filed a complaint against NTC’s Nilo Lozada, Roberto Tolentino and Imelda R. Walcien, the Chief of Adjudication Division, Chief of the Radio Spectrum Planning Division and Head of the Regulation Branch.
respectively for violation of the provisions of R.A. 9006, otherwise known as the Fair Elections Act. In a Complaint-Affidavit, Emerald said “any threat of suspension or cancellation of NOW Telecom’s radio frequencies will not only disrupt its operations and jeopardize its business, but will also cause undue prejudice to its shareholders, including Emerald ” Emerald holds 12.8 percent interest in Now Telecom Company, Inc. (NOW TELECOM).
The criminal complaint alleges that the act of the NTC respondents IN giving due course and setting for hearing the complaint dated January 21, 2022 filed against Now Telecom, which sought to recall ALL the assigned radio frequencies, violates Section 6.4 of the Fair Elections Code, which prohibits the cancellation or suspension of legislative franchise during the election period. Section 13 of the same code provides that said act is an election offense.
The election period for the May 2022 elections commenced on January 9, 2022 and will end ON June 8, 2022. The Omnibus Election Code provides a penalty of imprisonment of one to six years, without probations, for ELECTION offenses. If convicted, an accused will also suffer from accessory penalties such as disqualification to hold public OFFICE and deprivation of HIS/HER right of suffrage.
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