Lower House officials sign Quiboloy’s arrest warrant
MANILA — Officials of the House of Representatives have signed last March 15 the arrest warrant against fugitive pastor Apollo Quiboloy, following his consistent refusal to honor the subpoena as lawmakers discussed violations of the TV franchise the evangelist reportedly owns.
Rep. Johnny Pimentel of the second district of Surigao del Sur confirmed that the warrant of arrest has already been “signed” by their panel chairman, Rep. Gus Tambunting of the legislative franchises committee, and House secretary-general Reginald Velasco.
“The order to release the arrest warrant will be issued next week,” he told this writer, referring to this week, starting today March 18. The warrant will be given to House sergeant-atarms retired police major general Napoleon Taas, who will then coordinate with the PNP in serving the warrant.
The Tambunting committee has approved House Bill 9710 that aims to revoke the legislative franchise Congress has issued to Swara Sug Media Corp., operator of the Sonshine Media Network Inc. that the self-styled preacher reportedly owns.
Last week, the bill reached the plenary of the House, where congressmen will deliberate and decide whether to recommend the shutting down of the Davao City-based network, and cancel its franchise altogether, which is supposed to be valid until 2044.
Tambunting told House reporters in a briefing that HB 9710 will take the usual legislative mill or route, where it should first undergo third and final reading in the House before it can be sent to the Senate for the same procedure, for the senators’ concurrence.
“It still has to pass through the Senate, this will pass through the regular process. It should be read in the House plenary, second and third reading, then we send it to the Senate,” the veteran administration legislator said.
Bill revoking Quiboloyowned SMNI TV network reaches House plenary
Tambunting, of Paranaque’s second district, submitted HB 9710 for the approval of all his 308 other House colleagues Committee Report 1024, which detailed and enumerated SMNI’s violations on its franchise.
Rep. Rodge Gutierrez of 1-Rider party-list authored HB 9710 that will result in the revocation of SMNI’s legislative franchise (Republic Act 11422) that should be valid for 25 years, or until 2044, until the lawmakers’ discovery of “multiple violations” to the franchise.
“Having exposed SMNI’s multiple franchise violations, it is incumbent upon the House to exercise its mandate provided for under Article 12 Section 11 of the 1987 Constitution, by repealing RA 11422 in the interest of justice and the common good,” he stated in the measure.
During his sponsorship speech, Tambunting recalled that from the six “exhaustive deliberations” or hearings they conducted, Swara Sug Media Corp. – or SMNI’s juridical name – committed “grave violations of the terms of its franchise, thereby warranting its revocation.”
“Sections 4 and 7 of RA 11422 were violated through the blatant red tagging, fake news peddling and violations of broadcasting standards,” he revealed. “It is important that broadcasting, especially news reporting, is fair and accurate.”
“Sections 10, 11 and 12 were also violated when changes in ownership were not reported to Congress, when the franchisee failed to comply with the dispersal of ownership requirement, and when it failed to comply with reportorial requirements for almost three (3) decades,” Tambunting added.
Gutierrez, a member of the House Minority Bloc, observed that “SMNI failed to deliver truthful and balanced reporting to its audience,” citing as primary instance the P1.8 billion travel expense tale of SMNI anchors Jeffrey Celiz and Lorraine Badoy.
He said this was worsened by the network’s concealment of its ties with a Chinese TV network.
Officials of the Davao City-based broadcast station were forced to admit in Dec. 2023 about their collaboration with China Global Television Network (CGTN), where legislators warned about information dissemination in light of China's aggressive stance on the West Philippine Sea.
Celiz and Badoy, hosts of the “Laban para sa Bayan,” later apologized to the Tambunting panel that they got the wrong information about Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez’s alleged travel expenses, which the House leadership only pegged at a total of P39 million with other lawmakers.
“The operation of SMNI is considered a threat to national security and stability as it continues to use its platform to disseminate unverified, untruthful statements,” Gutierrez explained, noting that “non-compliance” with reportorial requirements in ownership change should make SMNI suffer.
“Non-compliance therewith shall render the franchise ipso facto (automatically) revoked. Even after 29 years of operation, they still failed to comply with the 30 percent requirement on dispersal of ownership,” he argued further.