A local FM radio station faces suspension when a town mayor recently accused the former of illegal operations in Kabacan, Cotabato, around 1100 kilometers south of Manila.
In her complaint to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), dated 31 March 2006, Kabacan Mayor Luzviminda Tan claimed that 101.7 Hot FM illegally aired its commentaries despite its modulation restriction.
According to Tan, Hot FM is only authorized to operate as a public address system for public assistance with music and not as a commercial radio station which also airs a public affairs program.
Station manager Ed Tinizo believes that the crux of the complaint has to do with Hot FM’s “Barangayan,” a hard-hitting public affairs program which had criticized the said mayor’s governance. Radyo DXND Program Director Malu Manar (an AM station also based in Kabacan, concurred with this observation.
Tan, however, denied these allegations and said that her being criticized was not the main issue. In a press release received by CMFR from her office, the mayor said that she was just asking for the necessary documents, which would show that the station’s operations are legal.
“The issue is whether they are operating legally or not. They never touched nor emphasized the real reason of my queries — whether they have the documents we are asking or they don’t have,” she said.
But Tinizo said they had given the mayor copies of all the documents she had requested. He said they cannot give her the original copies of such documents for those were being kept by their operations manager.
Tan ordered for the suspension of operations of Hot FM twice last month — first, on 13 March and second, some time on the third week of March, just before the mayor went to Brazil on the 23rd of the said month. However, as of presstime, 101.7 Hot FM, owned by the Manila Broadcasting Company, continues to operate.
Manar said that this incident prompted the local press to form a small media organization in Cotabato, like a local unit of Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP), the country’s largest federation of broadcast networks. ###