NTC: Illegal radio stations rampant amid election

Illegal radio stations have mushroomed in the region amid election and the regional office of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) XI can hardly go after them, an official said.

“The NTC Regional Office is tasked to inspect and recommend to the commission what radio stations will do. We have found out that some radio stations operate with no documents at all so I recommended for the issuance of a show cause order,” Nelson Cañete said during the SM Kapehan sa Dabaw press conference.

According to Cañete, about 40 radio stations have been identified to illegally operate despite being issued a show cause order by the NTC XI due to lack of franchise.

“Some of these illegally operated radio stations are owned by politicians and we expect them to operate just within the election season,” he said.

“After election, these stations will most probably shut down,” he added.

The regional office of the said agency is still waiting for the response of the NTC Central Office on the closure of the illegal radio stations since regional offices have no jurisdiction to close stations.

Other than politician-owned stations, small radio stations also illegally operate.

According to Cañete, a radio station must have a franchise from the NTC and a congressional franchise before operation.

However, this is too costly for small radio operators but transmitters are very accessible hence illegal operations are very rampant.

“The congressional franchise is about P30M worth and most of these small radio stations could not afford this price. Hence, they just assemble their own transmitter and operate even without permits,” Cañete said.

Cañete also admitted that they could hardly penetrate these small stations because they are within private houses or rooms.

He also said outdated laws hamper their operations against illegal radio stations.

“This is a national problem. During the meeting of the regional directors, we have addressed this problem to the commission, however, the laws that the commission implement is based in 1930s. So, we are still on the process of fixing this,” Cañete said.

“No matter how we issue memorandum circulars, without legal bases, we will still be questioned,” he added. (Julianne Suarez)