Kintanar’s proposed law, House Bill No. 4942 or the NICC Act of 2005, makes strong mention of radio frequency spectrum as "a scarce public resource that shall be administered in the public interest."

The Cebu lawmaker’s filing of the bill comes less than month after the NTC awarded 3G frequencies to four mobile phone operators — Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, Digitel Philippines, and CURE (Connectivity Unlimited Resources Enterprises).

Under the proposed law, the NTC will be "reorganized to re-enforce or augment its existing organizational structure and capabilities in order to meet the rapid developments of new and emerging technologies."

This is the first time that a bill has been filed to revamp the regulatory body since its creation under Executive Order No. 546 promulgated on July 23, 1979.

Its regulatory and quasi-judicial functions were taken over from the Board of Communications and the Telecommunications Control Bureau which were abolished in the same order.

In 1987, President Corazon C. Aquino issued Executive Order 125-A making the NTC an attached agency of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC). Last year, it was placed under the supervision of the Commission of Information and Communications Technology but was soon reverted to DoTC.

If signed into law, the NICC will have the same collegial body of three commissioners, composed of a chairperson and two commissioners, all of whom appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the DoTC secretary.

Unlike the current setup wherein the commissioners can be removed by the ruling administration, HB 4942 provides for a fixed term of seven years for the appointees. But once they have served out their terms, they are no longer eligible for reappointment.

As for the NICC’s organizational structure, it will remain under the administrative supervision of the DoTC. The DoTC, however, "shall not exercise any power which will tend to influence or effect a review or a modification of the quasi-judicial functions of the commission."

Like most quasi-judicial bodies, the decisions of the NICC will be appealable to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. All powers vested upon the commission are vested on the commissioners sitting as collegial body.

The NICC may also soon take over the administration of the country’s countrycode level domain, .ph, which is currently being held by a private company, because of a provision that says the commission has "jurisdiction, supervision, regulation, and control over all persons, entities engaged in the operation and/or provision of information and communications, telecommunications, broadcast, CATV, and other multi-media infrastructures and services, including numbering systems, domain name systems and other related concerns."

Almost a superbody, the NICC also has the power to institute measures to curb intellectual property-related violations. (Melvin G. Calimag)