House Minority lawmakers intend to vote against the bill renewing the 25-year franchise of Smart Communications Inc. should it reach the bicameral conference committee.

The House already passed its version of the bill, which is now pending before the Senate. Some lawmakers argue that Smart doesn't deserve its franchise because of its poor services.

"Sakaling aprubahan ng senado ang Smart franchise ng magkakaroon ng bicam and on the part of the minority, we will vote against kasi may isang boto ang minority sa bicameral," House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said.

(If the senators approve the Smart franchise and should it reach a bicameral conference committee, on the part of the minority, we will vote against the bill because the minority has one vote in the bicameral.)

"I was assured by Senator (Ralph) Recto he will do the same," he added, referring to the senate minority leader.

Suarez extended the warning to Globe Telecom, whose franchise is up for renewal.

" 'Yung prangkisa ninyo, may karapatan kaming bawiin. Baka sabihin niyo paano mababawi. Napakadali niyan. Kukuha lang kami ng magte-take-over sa inyo, pay your improvement. I'm very sure there are a lot of takers who want to take over in this industry," he said.

(It's our right to revoke Globe's franchise. You may be wondering how we can do that. It's easy. We'll just look for somebody who will take over from you."

Buhay Party List Rep. Lito Atienza said the House majority must explain why Smart's franchise was approved.

"Bakit inaprubahan ng majority 'yun?" Atienza said.

"I think we should ask that question now. Bakit niyo minadali? Before Christmas inaprubahan 'yan. I ask the same question: why did Congress approve the renewal of Smart when we have so many complaints?"

(Why did the majority approve the franchise? Why was it rushed?)

Kabayan party-list Representative Harry Roque pointed out he already has a standing resolution for the telcos to explain why Congress should not take back their franchises.

"As early as August 6, nag-file na ako ng Resolution 237 and this is not just to investigate the teclos. It is to provide the telcos a show-cause order on why their franchise should not be revoked already by congress," Roque said.

"Neither Smart or Globe is able to give us good signal. Yet dito sila kumukuha ng franchise. Ang kapal kapal, kukuha ng franchise, wala man lang serbisyo sa Kongreso. Mas malala ang Globe na magre-renew."

(The telcos have the gall to seek our approval for a franchise even though we can't even get a decent wireless signal here in Congress.)

Suarez slammed the telcos' poor quality of service.

"What makes this situation even more egregious is these telco companies have the guts to religiously charge its customers, both postpaid and prepaid, despite the lack of acceptable level of service," he said.

"For postpaid subscribers like us, we get billed monthly regardless of the fact that we were unable to make and receive calls for a month due to signal issues and lack of sufficient technical support. Prepaid subscribers who avail of text, call, and internet promos, thinking that it would save them money, end up losing more due to intermittent signal and limited connectivity.

"We cannot let these telcos make exponential profit while services continue to deteriorate. Corporate greed has no place in the operation of public utilities."

Suarez added that there is a need for "radical solutions to address the deplorable state of telecommunications in our country."

"In the absence of any urgent measures to be taken by these companies, the minority would urge the government to revoke these franchises for failure to responsibly operate and manage public resources," he said.

"At the start of his administration, the president said the Philippines is open for business. What business climate can we present, if telecommunications appears to be a failing endeavor? Businesses, such as BPOs, rely heavily on telcos for fast Internet connection. However, poor telco services decrease productivity of workers, resulting to about 76 billion pesos of losses per year."