GMA7-TV5 MERGER MAY FACE LEGAL HURDLE ON MONOPOLY ISSUES!

Gerely Rico, senior associate in Alonso and Associates and writer for the show “Legal Forum” on GMA News TV, shared her expert view.

She cited the Constitution in explaining the issue of monopoly: “Section 19, Article XII… states, ‘The State shall regulate or prohibit monopolies when the public interest so requires. No combinations in restraint of trade or unfair competition shall be allowed.’”

She invoked a Supreme Court decision, Garcia vs. Executive Secretary (GR No. 157584, April 2, 2009), which pointed out: “[The] Constitutional provision does not declare an outright prohibition of monopolies. It simply allows the State to act ‘when public interest so requires.’”

The decision noted: “Two elements must concur before a monopoly may be regulated or prohibited: There in fact exists a monopoly… and public interest requires its regulation and prohibition.”

In sum: “Questions of what public interest requires and what the State reaction shall be… [necessitate] the exercise of discretion on the part of the State.”

The more vital question seems to be: Will a monopoly result from the purported merger of TV5 and GMA 7?

Alonso said: “In the case of a merger between TV5 and GMA 7… for as long [as] the merger is not intended to dominate the industry where they belong… to exclude actual or potential competitors from the field, there is no monopoly that might be considered as unconstitutional.”

She stressed, however, that any merger of networks “should comply with any condition that may be imposed by the National Telecommunications

Commission (NTC) in order for the merger to be valid.”

Alonso further explained, “[The NTC is] the government regulatory agency that has jurisdiction over the broadcast industry. All plans for mergers of corporations within said industry must be approved by the NTC, subject to its existing rules and regulations.”

SOURCE