Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 6) — Officials of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) led by its Director General Jeremiah Belgica on Monday filed a counter affidavit and motion for reconsideration over the preventive suspension ordered by the Office of the Ombudsman due to graft charges which stemmed from choosing a new telco player in the country.
“Gusto naming sabihin sa lahat na hindi kami korap. Ginagawa lang po namin ang aming trabaho,” Belgica said in a statement.
[Translation: We want everyone to know that we are not corrupt. We are just doing our job.]
“Ang preventive suspension ay hindi pa po isang desisyon sa guilt at sa pagkakamali ng bawat isa sa amin. Ito ay para gwardyahan at bantayan ang integridad ng lahat ng dokumento upang hindi maimpluwensyahan ng mga iniimbestigahan,” he stressed.
[Translation: A preventive suspension is not yet a decision of guilt and the fault of each one of us. This is to guard and monitor the integrity of all documents so as to not be influenced by those under investigation.]
Ombudsman Samuel Martires ordered the six month-suspension of Belgica, Deputy Director General Eduardo Bringas, Division Chief Sheryl Pura-Sumagui, Director Jedreck Ng, and Director Melamy Salvadora-Asperin, in an order dated May 24 but only made public on Sunday.
READ: Ombudsman suspends ARTA officials due to graft charges
In the case filed by telecommunications firm DITO Telecommunity Inc., it alleged that the ARTA officials gave preferential treatment on NOW Telecom Company Inc. in choosing the New Major Player (NMP) in the country’s telecom industry, which was conducted by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
Belgica argued that ARTA is not responsible for the approval of applications nor providing frequencies or provisional authority.
“Ang kapangyarihan namin ay ang pagsusuri kung kumpleto ang inyong isinumite at hindi naaksyunan. Sinusuri namin sa aming mga pagdinig kung kumpleto na ba ang mga dokumento at nabayaran na ba ang mga kinakailangan bayaran upang maaprubahan ang kanilang inaaplyan at upang malaman kung may pagkukulang na ginawa ang ahensya,” he said.
[Translation: Our authority is to evaluate if your documents you submitted are complete and left without action. We check these during our hearings and if the necessary payment has been made to approve the application and to see if there are shortcomings from the agency.]
Section 10 of RA 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 states that all applications or requests submitted to government offices, including the complete requirements and payments will be automatically approved or renewed if no action was taken within the prescribed processing time.
On March 1, 2021, Belgica said that “ARTA issued an Order of Automatic Approval declaring the completeness of NOWTel’s application and deemed the same as automatically approved by operation of law and directed NTC to issue the Provisional Authority and the concomitant frequencies.”
“It is merely on the basis that ARTA applied the provisions of RA 11032 that we were preventively suspended by the Ombudsman for six months,” he said.
He adds that it is a good opportunity for the 19th Congress to review and strengthen this provision of the law and reminded fellow government workers that this should be implemented.
