CONTRARY to the claim of Sen. Ramon S. Guerrero, there was no pressure applied by any party on the Senate to file a petition urging the Federal Communications Commission to deny the purchase of Verizon’s local franchise by a consortium that includes Tan Holdings and Citadel Corp., according to Diego M. Songao, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications.
In a June 25 letter, Songao told Guerrero that while he “appreciates” his concern on the issue, it could have been better if he conferred first with the committee before going to the media.
“In the future, I feel that it would be in the best interest of all concerned to keep discussions within the committee before sharing them with the media so that we can avoid unnecessary confusion or misunderstandings especially when dealing with such a critical CNMI-wide issue,” said Songao, Covenant-Rota.
Guerrero, American Reform-Saipan, earlier claimed that Adam B. Turner pressured the Senate to send the petition of denial to the FCC. Turner is the acting executive director of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission and policy consultant of Gov. Juan N. Babauta.
Guerrero said the committee’s original agreement was to petition for the extension of the consortium’s application deadline.
But Songao said they were not pressured by Turner because all committee members agreed that the acting CTC executive director and the Senate legal counsel would assist the panel in preparing its comments to the FCC.
He said each of the Senate committee members who attended its meeting, including Guerrero, “felt that various issues remained outstanding and required more time for (them) to adequately understand and address.”
