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December 6, 2007 |
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PHIL LONG DISTANCE: Loses Regulatory Fee Case Against NTC The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. has lost in its legal dispute with the National Telecommunications Commission regarding regulatory fees assessed sometime in 1988, BusinessWorld reports. According to the article, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling rendered in 1999 dictating how the NTC should compute its supervision and regulatory fees, and mandated that stock dividends are included in the assessment. The dispute began in 1988, the report recounts, when the NTC assessed PLDT PHP7.495 million in SRF computed at PHP0.50 per PHP100 PLDT outstanding capital stock as of end-1987. However, PLDT protested the assessment, saying that it was made to raise revenue and not reimbursements of actual regulatory expenses. PLDT also claimed that the SRF should have been based on the par value of outstanding capital stock, and challenged the NTC'S authority to require payment. The NTC denied PLDT's petition in 1993, as well as a motion for reconsideration the following year, BusinessWorld recounts. PLDT then appealed to the Court of Appeals, which ruled in 1996 that the NTC should have computed the SRF using the par value of PLDT's subscribed or paid capital stock excluding excluding stock dividends, premiums or capital in excess of par. After the CA rebuffed the appeal, the NTC brought the matter up to the Supreme Court, which ruled in 1999 that the SRF should be based neither on the par value or market value of the outstanding capital stock, but on the value of the stocks subscribed or paid including the premiums paid therefore. The SC then ordered the NTC to recompute the SRF. In February 2000, the report says, NTC sent new assessments that now included the value of stock dividends issued by the telecom firm based on a scheduled of issued capital stock. However, PLDT again protested, and the NTC sent yet another assessment in September. PLDT succeeded in securing a restraining order from the Court of Appeals the following month. However, the CA dismissed PLDT's petition and lifted the TRO in February 2001, subsequently denying a motion for reconsideration by PLDT the following month. PLDT then filed a case with the Supreme Court, arguing that the CA erred in junking its petition. In its latest ruling, the article relates, the Supreme Court said that PLDT erred in contending that stock dividends are not included in the assessments because subscribers or shareholders do not pay for their issuance. The Supreme Court then said that "stockholders by receiving stock dividends are forced to exchange the monetary value of their dividend for capital stock, and the monetary value they forego is considered the actual payment for the original issuance of the stocks given as dividend." "Therefore, stock dividends acquired by shareholders for the monetary value they forego are under the coverage of the SRF and the basis for the latter is such monetary value as declared by the board of directors," the Supreme Court concluded. About PLDT Based in Makati City, Philippines, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. -- http://www.pldt.com.ph/ -- is the leading national telecommunications service provider in the Philippines. Through three principal business groups -- wireless, fixed line, and information and communications technology -- the company offers a wide range of telecommunications services to over 22 million subscribers in the Philippines across the nation's most extensive fiber optic backbone and fixed line, cellular and satellite networks. * * * As of November 7, 2007, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company carries Fitch Ratings' long-term foreign currency issuer default and senior notes ratings of 'BB+'. The company also carries Standard & Poor's 'BB+' foreign currency rating, as well as Moody's Investors Service's foreign currency bond rating of Ba2. |
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