DAVAO CITY — Local Government Units watch out!
The Department of Interior and Local Government is monitoring the progress of all tower permit application of the country’s telecommunications companies, said Secretary Eduardo Año.
During Monday briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte, Año revealed that the country has four big telco’s namely: Touch Mobile and Globe Telecommunication, Smart Communication, and Dito Telecommunity Corporation and a hand few of small Telco players.
The telcos have applied for 1,930 permits for towers in 55 provinces and 25 cities, which means 80 LGUs, and, of these 1,502 have been approved while 428 are pending.
To this, Duterte quipped “Sabi ko na nga, ulitin ko, the reason why ang mga telco nahihirapan kasi ‘yung pa — ‘yung mga tower nila hindi — it’s not being acted upon, and there are so many requirements that are being asked by the local government officials”.
“Ngayon, ‘yung mga nahuli, talagang magdusa kayo. Sinabi ko sa iyo, I can — I have never been serious as I can ever be in my life, huwag kayong magkamali talaga . . . ito hahabulin ko kayo hanggang preso. Malalaki ho ang parusa ng graft and corruption,” Duterte added.
The DILG, Año revealed “Ang natira na lang po ay 428 na pending application at ito po ay babantayan namin para siguradong hindi po magtatagal dahil sa lumang sistema, 241 days, 19 permits at saka 86 document requirements. Ngayon po sa ating bagong sistema po na ipinapapatupad ninyo, 16 na araw na lang, 16 days, at walong permit na lang po ang kailangan, requiring 35 documents.”
(There are 428 pending applications, we will make sure that it will not drag because the old system requires 19 permits and 86 document requirements. Now, we are implementing the new system which you wanted, it only takes 16 days, 16 days, and eight (8) permits requiring 35 documents.)
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Año said in the following week, they will monitor the movement of the pending applications and will make sure it will be approved, and if not, they must know the reason, so that will hasten the process of telco applications.
For how many years, Telco subscribers have been complaining about the snail-paced connections even those who acquired the highest broadband plan, telecommunications companies continue to invite subscribers despite the crawling signal.
Recently, a telco executive revealed that government red tape snags hamper their application. –Editha Z, Caduaya/Newsline.ph
