November 20, 2006

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Your Honor, yesterday with great pride, we salute the tenacity of our dear kababayan, Manny Pacquiao, for showing a great fight.  Truly, Pacquiao reverberates to the world the tenacity and resilience of the Filipino people. 

Nakita po natin kung paano magdiwang, mag-celebrate ang ating mga kababayan dito sa panalong ito.  But, Mr. Speaker, this afternoon I would like to raise a question of personal and collective privilege, Mr. Speaker, on the issue of panggogoyo ng mga cable providers. 

Mr. Speaker, as you are all aware, this Representation is a sports fanatic and I can honestly admit, Mr. Speaker, that even during that time when I was a kid when I was a kid, I have to wake up 2:30 in the morning   just to watch the All-Star Game of NBA, thru FEM. 

Mr. Speaker, last time, Manny Pacquiao fought that Mexican guy, Larios. This Representation, together with Congressman Angara, Congressman Chipeco, we were so blessed to be given a chance to watch  that fight  live in Araneta Coliseum.    

Recently,  this Representation  is also present  during that time when  the Volcano Alcano, our kababayan  from Calamba, won his world pool title.   In short,  Mr. Speaker, what I am trying to drive at is that yesterday this Representation was so excited.   In fact, in my hometown, in my home province,  in Bocaue, Bulacan, this Representation went to a place where we could watch a live telecast  of the fight of our kababayan, Manny Pacquiao.   We prepared everything, the food, the  barbeque.  I even asked, Mr. Speaker,  Your Honor, my friends, my neighbors to be with me to watch the fight live because this Representation called up our cable company in Bocaue, Bulacan,  to make sure that we will be able to watch it live and because I have here with me, Mr. Speaker, Your Honor, an ad from that  cable company.  It says here:  Live on pay per view  Manny Pacquiao-Eric Morales 3, Sunday, November 19, exclusively available  at Home Cable.  And then there  is this ad box activation and cable installation,   the telephone number.   In short, Mr. Speaker,  we were all there.  We were prepared.  We were   watching as early as 9:00 o’clock in the morning.  And  God knows, all of us are  so excited  to find out what is going to happen.  We were able to watch the  Viloria match.          

And then, Mr. Speaker, the time comes  when they’re about to introduce the 2 contenders.  We had the Philippine National Anthem and then the Mexican National Anthem, then the Star  Spangled Banner.    Mr. Speaker, bigla na lang pong nawala yong signal ng aming cable.  I tried calling some friends of mine who have the same interest in watching the  game -- the fight. But unfortunately all of them  were also victimized by this “Panggogoyo Scheme”.   And  so,  we   tried  calling   the  cable  company   for   quite sometime, Mr.Speaker,  for about 15 -- 20 minutes or half an hour,  but no one is answering  the phone.  And so, what we did was we  asked some friends of mine to go to their office in Balagtas, Bulacan, which is adjacent to Bocaue, Bulacan.  And there we found out that a lot of people were complaining.  And you could just imagine, Mr. Speaker,  the outrage of my constituents -- of my kababayan in Bulacan.  A resident of Malolos, Bulacan,  actually admitted that he was supposed to leave the country four days before  the fight  to the United States.  But because he wanted to watch the Pacquiao fight, he extended his  stay.  He applied for the extension of his plane ticket just to watch the game with his relatives.  But unfortunately,  Mr. Speaker,  nabigo po ang bawat isa sa amin na makapanood nitong fight na ito. Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, we can only blame ourselves for  subscribing to Home Cable and its local  service provider, Bright Moon Cable Network, Incorporated.  We felt excluded, we felt discriminated.   

Mr. Speaker, hindi ko nga po alam  sapagkat ang alam ko po yong  Home Cable  ay wala na po nang  mag-merge sila ng Sky Cable.  Pero dito rin po dala-dala ko po yong mga resibo ng aking mga kaibigan, ng aking mga relatives from Bocaue,  from Marilao, from  Balagtas, from Malolos, ang nakalagay po sa resibo Home Cable pero may nakalagay pong Bright Moon Cable Network. 

Mr. Speaker, Home Cable has to make an explanation to this.   Just a few minutes ago before I went down from my office, Mr. Speaker, I got a letter--finally, I got a letter from--a fax message from the Operations Manager of Bright Moon Cable, Mr. Freddie Abad.  I was looking for this person yesterday, Mr. Speaker, but I found out that this guy is actually on leave.  He was in Tarlac.  He was on vacation despite the fact, Mr. Speaker, that we consider yesterday’s event as a big activity for this cable network; considering that a lot of people in my province subscribed to this pay per view scheme.  

Mr. Speaker, the least thing that they should be doing right now is to reimburse the fees.  But, Mr. Speaker, in business, if you cannot treat your customers fairly, you lose them.  And in any business, when service(s) and product(s) are not provided fairly to each customer, refunds are demanded and given.  But again, Mr. Speaker, this is not the point why I want to raise this issue this afternoon.  This is irreparable, Mr. Speaker, especially to my constituents, to this Representation, to my family, to my relatives.  And we are all aware that the work of a legislator knows no end and knows no rest.   While trying to compose myself with the sudden breakdown of Home Cable yesterday, legislative concerns came to my attention.  Seeing the disenchantment of my constituents in Bulacan, I immediately thought of filing a resolution to investigate this seemingly breach of contract, so that, Mr. Speaker, Your Honor, appropriate laws may be crafted.  Kung kulang pa po ang polisiya natin tungkol dito, ma-address po natin so that the same incident may not be repeated in the future. 

And that is why I ask, Mr. Speaker, what is the liability of this cable provider in cases like this?  To whom can the people go to bring their complaints?   Is refund or public apology a mere solution to this irreparable damage?   Okay lang naman, Mr. Speaker, iyong refund kaya lang siguro po hindi ito sapat para maibalik pa iyong nangyari kahapon.  Tapos na iyong laban ni Pacquiao, round 3 lang natapos na.  And then, hinintay pa ho namin ang isa’t kalahating oras bago namin mapanood; at ang pumikon naman sa amin ay ang isang damakmak na commercial.  Well, we can understand that, Mr. Speaker, but that is not my point.  We even have to pay for more just to see it live.  Para ho itong paraphernalia na ito, na naengganyo ho kami eh mangyari naman at makita po namin.   Ito, Mr. Speaker, ay pagkakataon din para busisiin siguro natin ang mga ahensiyang may kinalaman sa regulasyon ng cable operation industry at tingnan kung ano ang magagawa ng Kamarang ito. 

Dahil dito, Mr. Speaker, marami tayong kailangang tanungin:  Una, Mr. Speaker, which agency actually regulates these cable providers?   We called the attention of NTC.  Tumawag po kami, Mr. Speaker, and we found out that these cable providers can actually obtain their franchises from local government funds despite the fact na alam po nating lahat na ang supervision at regulation ay dapat sa NTC.  If this is true, Mr. Speaker, what is the implication of that mandate of NTC--being vested solely with the regulation and supervision of cable television industry? I have here with me, Mr. Speaker, Your Honor, a copy of the Executive Order 436.  Sa Section 2 po nakalagay po ito, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have learned also that this Bright Moon Cable Network, Inc. in Bulacan is the one responsible for that incident.  How can the NTC ensure then that when it grants provisional authority and/or certificate of authority to a cable television operator, like the Bright Moon, Mr. Speaker--the cable operator--has the capability to provide adequate services to its subscribers.  Papaano po Mr. Speaker, kung sub-standard yung service ng cable company?  So, Mr. Speaker, I would just like to end by saying yesterday’s breakdown is an indication that the National Telecommunication Commission must reconsider the certificate of authority or the provisional authority na ibinibigay po nila sa mga cable companies katulad ng Bright Moon.  Iyong sa Bright Moon po ibinigay nila ito noong September 4, 2001 to provide cable services in Bulacan and to other cable operators for that matter.

INTERPELLATION OF REP. CHIPECO

REP. CHIPECO.  Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. 

THE DEPUTY SPEAKER (Rep. Espinosa, E.R.).  Honorable Chipeco. 

REP. CHIPECO.  Will the Gentleman from Bulacan and member of the CIBAC party list yield to some questions, Mr. Speaker. 

THE DEPUTY SPEAKER.  May do so, if he desire. REP. VILLANUEVA.  Certainly, Mr. Speaker, specially from the Gentleman from Laguna. 

THE DEPUTY SPEAKER (Rep. Espinosa, E.R.).  Please proceed. 

REP. CHIPECO.  Well, Mr. Speaker, I am quite curious about the speech made by the Honorable Villanueva,  but I  would like to concentrate more on the issue of the pay per view.  I believe. . . may I know from the honorable Gentleman if there is such a law regulating this cable industry. 

REP. VILLANUEVA.  Well, Mr. Speaker, Your Honor,  in this Executive Order No. 436, in Section 2, states here that:  “the regulation and supervision of the cable television industry in the Philippines, shall remain vested solely with the National Telecommunications  Commission or NTC.” You know, Mr. Speaker, it’s just so unfortunate that during that time, almost the whole day after – noon pong mawala yong signal noong coverage nitong Pacquiao fight, e ni wala ho kaming makontak na taga NTC na supposed to be nag su-supervise at nag re-regulate sa mga bagay na ito.  Nakakalungkot nga po iyong general manager mismo ng cable company - ito pong Bright Moon Cable Network na ginagamit din po nila itong Home Cable Network, e, wala ho silang masabing explanation up to this time, Mr. Speaker, ang sinasabi lang nila technical problem, nothing more. 

REP. CHIPECO.  But, Mr. Speaker,  the pay per view concept is something. . . maybe new to us. It’s not new to other countries, but maybe something new to our country.  Before, I believe that we do subscribe to a particular cable network, and we pay a monthly amount for its subscription.  However, with respect to the pay per view,  it is you pay a particular show, and you view it in a particular time, is that correct, Mr. Speaker? 

REP. VILLANUEVA.  Yes, Mr. . . 

REP. CHIPECO.  That is the difference between the pay per view and the ordinary subscription. 

REP. VILLANUEVA.  Yes, Mr. Speaker, Your Honor, in fact Mr. Speaker, this Representation because of the fact that most of us and this Representation would love to see this fight, in fact Mr.  Speaker, I was invited by some of our colleagues to join them  in watching this fight.  Our friend from  Manila, Congressman Miles Roces,  Congresswoman Connie Dy of Pasay, but, the thing is Mr. Speaker, I was already in Bulacan, so I thought of double checking it with the cable company in my hometown, and so I called them up and I ask them if they can put up - - if they have the access for us to be able to watch the fight.  But the problem, Mr. Speaker, is that the place where we are going to watch the fight, wala pong cable doon.  So, tinanong ko rin  kung pupuwede bang lagyan ng cable, so nagpalagay po  kami ng cable 2 days before the fight, nong maglagay po kami ng cable sinabi din po sa amin kailangan kami other than the cable na sinabs-scribe namin, kailangan naming magbayad ng additional  payment at ito po iyong makikita dito sa  resibo na ito, hindi lang po iyong one month payment doon po sa cable, kundi iyong tinatawag na pay per view scheme po nila, binayaran din po namin.  Nandito po iyong resibo.  Pero nakakalungkot nga po, napakaganda ho ng timing, Mr. Speaker, Your Honor, ipapakilala pa lang si Manny Pacquiao at si Erik Morales bigla hong nawala iyong signal ng cable company na ito. 

REP. CHIPECO.  Well, Mr. Speaker, I know the feeling of the honorable Gentleman because I have personal knowledge of the feelings of the Gentleman when that thing happened.  But, Mr. Speaker, I would like to just tackle about the issue.   Would you agree with me if I say that the pay per view scheme is a value-added service given by the cable providers? 

REP. VILLANUEVA.  Exactly, Mr. Speaker, and that is why we don’t blame them—these cable operators—to ask for additional fees on this matter. 

REP. CHIPECO.  Is the right to provide the pay per view included in that Executive Order, Mr. Speaker? 

REP. VILLANUEVA.  Well, Mr. Speaker, that is a very interesting issue that the Gentleman from Calamba is trying to raise.  There is no such thing as pay per view in my knowledge and just by looking at this Executive Order No. 436.  However, Mr. Speaker, in this Executive Order in Section 6, a cable television operator may, with prior approval from the Commission, lease or sublease any excess capacity of its cable television system to a third party.    In that case, Mr. Speaker, I’m also thinking, in my personal knowledge, it looks like Bright Moon Cable Network is a sublease, Mr. Speaker—is the lessee of Home Cable.   In fact, Mr. Speaker, kanina po on my way here, I found out that Home Cable was actually merged with Sky Cable, so wala na po talaga iyong Home Cable.  But still in the receipts na akin pong natanggap na atin pong binayaran, andoon pa rin iyong Home Cable logo—iyong old Home Cable logo.  And that’s why I also wanted to ask kasi ang Home Cable, alam po natin, nag-merged sa Sky Cable with ABS-CBN.  Ito ba ay kasama po dito?              

Nakakalungkot po, Mr. Speaker, sapagkat buti na lamang po at ni-raise ng ating kaibigan from Calamba District, from Laguna, ito pong issue na ito.  Sapagkat right now, hindi naman po dumadaan, wala pong prangkisa ang mga cable operators na ito, hindi po dumadaan ito sa Kongreso.  All they do is they go to the National Telecommunications Commission and apply for provisional authority.  Now, once they apply for the provisional authority, pu-pwede na po sila dahan-dahang magkaroon ng tinatawag po na station license.  At pag may station license na po sila, pwede na po silang mag-operate.  Pwede na po silang bumili ng mga equipment.  Pwede na po silang magkaroon noong tinatawag na—I’m not a technical person, Mr. Speaker, Your Honor—iyon pong tinatawag na head entry, head end na tinatawag—head end.  Ito po iyong pagbato ng signal.  Ito rin po iyong pag-receive ng signal.  At pagkatapos po nito, pwede na silang magbenta.  Pero again, Mr. Speaker, doon po sa  station license, meron pong mga alituntunin dito--alituntunin na dapat nilang sundin.            

Mr. Speaker, for example, in my hometown in Bocaue, ang isang HBO, for example HBO channel, nagpapalabas ng isang movie—movie ng Walt Disney for instance—Mr. Speaker, bigla-bigla doon sa ilalim, one-eighth o ipalagay na one-twelfth na lang of the screen, may lalabas na ticker.  May nagbebenta ng kung anu-ano.  May nagbebenta ng pagkain ng manok, pagkain ng kung anu-ano po, Mr. Speaker.  Eh, ito po ba ay pu-pwede, eh, under the law, hindi naman ho ito pu-pwede?  And I’m sure kung malalaman po ito ng HBO, malalaman ito, katulad ng mga Walt Disney, nakakahiya naman po, Mr. Speaker, at wala tayong magawa. 

Supposed to be, Mr. Speaker, ang NTC po, especially iyong regional counterpart nito, for example dito po sa case na ito iyong Region III NTC office, should actually be regulating and supervising ito pong scheme na ito, ito pong ginagawa na ito.  And siguro, Mr. Speaker, it’s also worth considering kung itong mga cable operators na ito dapat dumaan pa, dapat siguro dumaan dito sa Kongreso para magkaroon sila ng prangkisa.  I’m not saying I’m for that, Mr. Speaker.  It’s just that, I think we should also consider that, considering that right now, I don’t  see any accountability on the part of the cable operators to operate and to introduce such scheme as pay per view at higit sa lahat, ito pong panggogoyo na nangyari, lalung-lalo na po sa amin pong probinsiya ng Bulakan…

REP. VILLANUEVA.   . . . we have to get franchise here in [the here in] Congress, but when you are actually broadcasting na rin, Mr. Speaker, itong cable companies, hindi po nangangailangan.    And at the same time, questions like, who is now accountable with this kind of situation?    Because it appears that NTC is not doing anything about  this.  Under the law hindi rin puwedeng basta magpasok ng advertisements sa mga cable companies – sa operation po nila.    But, I think, all of us are aware that cable companies sometimes have their own channels, and kagaya nga po nang sinasabi ko kahit na iyong mga patented and mahigpit na ipinagbabawal din iyong rights para i-sell, ito ay ginagawa din po nila.    So, ito po ay ating nire-raise and I appreciate the concern of the Gentleman from Bukidnon.

MANIFESTATION OF REP. ZUBIRI  

REP. ZUBIRI.    Mr. Speaker, I support the Gentleman from CIBAC, because yesterday I was in the farm wherein we had Dream Satellite TV and I was able to subscribe.    But the town of Calatagan where my farm is located has their – they had the same problem as the honorable Gentleman from CIBAC.    They were all watching the fight live all throughout the morning and when Manny Pacquiao’s name was called, before the National Anthem was sung, it all of a sudden was cut off and a lot of the people there were quite upset.    So, whose fault was this?    We would like to get to the bottom of this.   Kawawa naman po iyong mga tao na iyon, iyong nagbayad at hindi naman ipinalabas iyong napakagandang laban po ni Manny Pacquiao.    So, I enjoin the Gentleman from CIBAC in his inquiry on who is responsible for this matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. 

REP. VILLANUEVA.     Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and just to close, Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank the distinguished Gentleman from Bukidnon, the distinguished Gentleman from Calamba, and,  Mr. Speaker, I just like to state for the record that this Representation has no money to go to Las Vegas to watch it live that is why nag-settle po kami doon sa cable company na iyon.    I just hope and pray na hindi po ito upuan lang natin kung hindi magkaroon po ng tugon at magkaroon po ng solusyon ito hong problemang ito nang sa ganoon po -- siguro sa Kongresong ito ako lamang po iyong Miyembro ng Kamara na naka-experience nito, at napakasaklap, hindi po kayang i-describe kung gaano po kasakit at  gaano po ka-apekto ang Representative na ito, ngunit, Mr. Speaker, ang wish ko lang ay hindi ho mangyari ito sa aking mga kasamahan. Marami pong salamat at magandang hapon.    

THE DEPUTY SPEAKER (Rep. Espinosa, E.R.).     The Majority Leader. 

REP. DE GUZMAN.   Mr. Speaker, may I move that the speech of the Honorable Villanueva, including its interpellation, be referred to the appropriate committee.

THE DEPUTY SPEAKER (Rep. Espinosa, E.R.).     Any objection?  (Silence)   Approved.