House revokes SMNI franchise on final reading

MANILA, Philippines —  Voting 284-4-4, the House of Representatives yesterday approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to revoke the franchise granted to Swara Sug Media Corp., which operates the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI).

House Bill 9710 effectively repeals Republic Act 11422, which extended the franchise granted to Swara Sug under RA 8122 for an additional 25 years in August 2019.

The renewed franchise was originally scheduled to expire in 2044.

The revocation was prompted by a series of alleged violations of the franchise, including peddling of fake news, involvement in red-tagging and committing significant corporate offenses.

HB 9710 was authored by party-list Reps. Rodge Gutierrez of 1 Rider and Jude Acidre of Tingog, Yevgeny Vicente Emano  (Misamis Oriental 2nd district), Emerson Pascual (Nueva Ecija 4th district) and Eulogio Rodriguez (Catanduanes).

The measure was sponsored by Parañaque City 2nd District Rep. and House committee on legislative franchise chairman Gus Tambunting.

After conducting six hearings since November last year, the panel concluded that SMNI had committed “multiple grace infractions” in violation of its franchise provisions.

During the hearing, SMNI admitted to transitioning from a non-stock, non-profit corporation to a sole corporation under religious leader Apollo Quiboloy of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) in 2006.

Last year, SMNI’s controlling stake was transferred to Marlon Acobo.

The panel concluded that SMNI underwent these “changes in its corporate structure” without prior approval from Congress, violating the provisions of its franchise.

SMNI also failed to “deliver truthful and balanced reporting to its audience” by engaging in “red-tagging and fake news peddling,” according to the committee.

The network was found to have engaged in “labeling” members of the House, former vice president Leni Robredo and private persons as members of the New People’s Army.

The congressional inquiry stemmed from allegations made by SMNI hosts of the “Laban Kasama ng Bayan” program that Speaker Martin Romualdez spent P1.8 billion on travel within a year.

The House had denied the allegation, citing official