House urges NTC to suspend SMNI's operations

MANILA, Philippines: The House of Representatives urged the National Telecommunications Commission to suspend the operations of Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI).

The call was contained in a resolution adopted by the House on Monday.

House Resolution 1499 was adopted hours after Jeffrey Celiz, host of SMNI's Kasama ng Bayan program, apologized for saying that House Speaker Martin Romualdez had a travel fund of P1.8 billion. Celiz admitted that his source's information was wrong. Celiz was detained by the House after being cited in contempt.

The resolution was authored by Rep. Margarita Nograles, who said that the SMNI violated its franchise, particularly the provision against spreading false information.