If there is any government agency that must be blamed for the fact that the two big cell-phone companies have long been systematically bilking their subscribers of their pre-paid phone loads, that agency can be no other than the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

That, at least, is the sense of the entire Arroyo Cabinet, which only late last week held an extended meeting to discuss the case of the vanishing pre-paid mobile phone loads that had been exposed by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

The NTC is, in theory, a quasi-judicial body whose decisions can be questioned or appealed only before the Supreme Court. Its mandate is spelled out in various executive orders starting with EO 546, and culminating in EO 648. Its job is to supervise, adjudicate and control all telecommunications services in the country. In other words, this is the agency that should be tempering the lust for profit of the telecoms firms. Unfortunately, however, it has been nothing but a paper tiger---at least in the perception of the public.

(Commissioner Ruel V. Canobas is the NTC’s incumbent head. He has held that post since August 13, 2007.)

My source says that majority of the Cabinet believes the NTC is widely perceived as an impotent regulatory body that functions more as a shield for the excesses of the big telecoms firms rather than as a protector of the public’s interest.

In last week’s meeting, my source says, “NTC Commissioner Ruel V. Canobas got one royal ass-chewing.” The Cabinet members were miffed over the fact that it was Enrile who had to blow the lid off the “predatory practice” of the telecoms firms of systematically confiscating pre-paid cell-phone loads by imposing short expiration schedules. They were also peeved by the fact that it was Sen. Joker Arroyo who elicited the admission from NTC officials that for the past eight years, the NTC had been powerless to move against the telecoms firms because of a temporary restraining order issued by a Quezon City court in 2001. “I have a feeling that the telcos and NTC are in collusion because how in the world can you believe that a TRO lasted this long? It is inconceivable that an injunction is imposed for nine years without the government doing anything about it,” Arroyo said.

In last week’s Cabinet meeting, my source says, the most vocal in his criticism of the NTC was Vice President Noli de Castro. In scolding the NTC, he was strongly backed up by National Economic Development Authority director-general Ralph Recto, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., National Security Council chief Norberto Gonzales and even Transportation and Communications Secretary Larry Mendoza.

The meeting ended with a decision to go along with the Senate investigation of NTC, which may mean that Commissioner Canobas’s days as NTC boss are numbered.

The NTC itself has confessed to its own impotence to a Senate panel now looking into the case. It admitted that it has failed to act on complaints submitted by mobile-phone subscribers. It blames it all on the eight-year-old TRO.

My source says that the Cabinet also learned that even if Commissioner Canobas were made to retire now, “he probably wouldn’t mind so much.”

You might ask: And why is that? Well, for one thing, he seems to be financially well-off, being the owner of several luxury cars and all that. My source continues that “he just acquired ownership of a big cockpit in Malvar, Batangas, indicating that he is not exactly financially challenged.”

I say the NTC does not need more powers than it now has. What it needs are more service-oriented and aggressive officials.

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