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THE
Commission on Audit (COA) has recommended to the
National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to collect
from Piltel (Pilipino Telephone Corp.) P492.62 million
of unpaid regulatory fees.
COA
believes that NTC—then headed by Ronald Solis—should
have stuck to its original computation that Piltel’s
supervision and regulatory fees (SRF) that fell due
should include certain subscriptions arising from the
debt-to-equity conversion scheme implemented by the
phone firm.
“SRF
including penalties for delayed payment totaling
P492,628,093 were not collected from Piltel due to the
exclusion of preferred shares and paid in capital in
excess of par value, which were the subject of the debt
rehabilitation scheme, in the capital stock used as
basis of the computation of the SRF,” COA said in its
audit observation memorandum to the NTC, a copy of which
was obtained by BusinessMirror.
Phone,
broadcast networks and cable companies are required to
pay the NTC a yearly regulatory fee of 50 centavos for
every P100 in paid up capital. The fee falls due every
September 30. Payments made beyond the deadline is
levied an additional 50 percent of the actual remaining
payable.
According to COA, Piltel failed to fully pay its SRFs
from 1992 to 2002 because Piltel based the SRF on the
par value of its shares of stock instead of the
subscribed capital.
In 2003,
the NTC filed a case against Piltel for nonpayment of
SRF.
But
after securing an opinion from the Department of Justice
(DOJ), which said the NTC can validly re-compute
Piltel’s SRF by excluding the preferred shares issued as
part of the company’s debt restructuring in 2002, the
tiff between Piltel and the NTC was resolved.
“The SRF
due from Piltel corresponding to the difference between
its paid capital and the par value of its shares from
1992 to 2004 shall be assessed and collected… The value
corresponding to the subject convertible preferred
shares allocated as a result of the debt for equity
conversion scheme under [Piltel’s] rehabilitation
program and any imputed penalties thereof, shall be
excluded as a basis in computing Piltel’s SRF in
accordance with the Supreme Court ruling and DOJ
opinion,” the NTC’s 2005 order stated.
COA
believes that exclusion of the convertible preferred
shares from the value of the capital stock used as basis
for the computation of the SRF is not in accordance with
the SC ruling and DOJ opinion, which states the proper
basis for the computation of the fee is the capital
stock subscribed or paid.
It
observed the NTC computed and collected the SRF based on
the capital paid and as per the audited balance sheet of
Piltel less the amount pertaining to the convertible
preferred shares for 2002 to 2004 totaling
P549,550,657.93.
Of the
amount, COA also observed that a payment of P68,300,822
made by Piltel on May 18, 2001 and
September 28, 2001 was applied to the 2001 SRF instead of the outstanding
balance as of December 2000 in the amount of P68,944,086
to avoid the 50-percent penalty for delayed payment of
the 2001 SRF totaling P34,150,411.
COA
noted P20.5 million pertaining to the converted
preferred shares under the debt rehabilitation scheme
was also excluded in the capital stock used as basis of
the SRF for 2001 to 2004 that resulted in uncollected
SRF and penalties amounting P458,477,682.00. |
