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Another CA division stops NTC's P7-B tax refund order(Philippine Star News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) MANILA, Philippines - The efforts of the government to refund over P7 billion excess charges to mobile subscribers suffered another setback after another division of the Court of Appeals (CA) issued a temporary retraining order (TRO) against the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). This time Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. got a favorable decision from the 16th Division of the appellate court that issued a 60-day TRO on Sept. 3 preventing the NTC from implementing the refund on alleged excessive charges on short messaging system (SMS) or text messages. The resolution was penned by Associate Justices Maria Elisa Sempio Diy, Ramon Bato Jr., and Rodil Zalameda. The appellate court directed Globe to post P500,000 to compensate for all damages subscribers of the subject telecommunications service may suffer by reason of the issuance of the injunctive relief. Globe said in its petition that the decision of NTC to refund over P7 billion in excess charges would cause "grave and irreparable" injury to the company and put in jeopardy the financial viability of the entire industry. The appellate court in its decision stated that the NTC decision should be restrained at this stage since allowing its implementation would make the recovery of the amount already garnished impossible if the court finds that the appealed NTC decision should be set aside. usiness ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 "To prevent any irremediable injury that petitioner may sustain by reason of the enforcement of the assailed decision, the Court deems it judicious to grant the petitioner's application," the CA division said in the order. In November 2012, NTC issued an order directing Smart Communications Inc. and Digitel Philippines Inc. (Sun Cellualr) of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) as well as Globe to reduce their regular retail price for short messaging system (SMS) or text messages to other networks. The regulator also directed the telco firms to reimburse their subscribers the excess charge of P0.20 per off-net SMS from effectivity of NTC Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 02-10-2011 in December 2011. The NTC circular that took effect in December 2011 supposedly reduced the SMS or text interconnection charge to P0.15 from P0.35 for the purpose of making text messaging more affordable to the public pursuant to the directive of the Office of the President. Last May 7, the NTC finally issued separate orders denying the motions for reconsideration filed by Smart, Sun Cellular and Globe filed in December of 2012 seeking to reverse NTC's order on the roll back of SMS rates to P0.80 from P1 in December 2011. The companies were directed to refund or reimburse their subscribers the excess charge of P0.20 per off-net text messages sent from one network to another network from the effectivity of the circular until fully settled. |