Lawyers: Bantay Radyo contract not a lease

With Congress set to investigate the franchise holder of Cebu-based Bantay Radyo network, lawyers of its current and aspiring management teams spoke up in defense of Sarraga Integrated and Management (SIAM) Corp.

They said no violation could be found since SIAM signed  management contracts with them,  not a lease. The two contracts are different types, said  lawyers representing “rival” entities PAFI Techno Resources Corp. and Cebu CFI Community Cooperative .

“The agreement was a management contract, not a contract of lease,” Cebu CFI spokesman Lito Astillero told Cebu Daily News.

Lawyer Edgar Gica, representing PAFI, said they were not “lessees” nor “buyers” under the management contract.

“We are sort of a manager. This makes us sort of employees of SIAM,” he said in a separate interview.
Astillero and Gica were reacting to a CDN front page story  that Congress was set to  investigate SIAM Corp. for possible violation of its franchise when it contracted PAFI and Cebu CFI to manage the three El Nuevo Bantay Radyo stations in Cebu and Negros.

PAFI, which is controlled by the family of Provincial Board Member Grecilda Sanchez, has managed Bantay Radyo stations dyDD, dyHH and dyZZ since 2002.

It  is fighting to keep control over the stations after SIAM granted the management contract to Cebu CFI in June this year.

Cebu CFI, which is led by retired judge Esperanza Garcia and identified with potential political interests of the Garcia family members, was supposed to take over the stations on Aug. 1, but the Cebu Regional Trial Court issued an injunction preventing the takeover.  A civil case filed by PAFI is still pending in court.

Astillero said a congressional investigation would have no bearing on the court case.

“However, if Congress decides to revoke the franchise of SIAM, then the case will become moot and academic,” he said.

The 25-year franchise will expire in two years by 2017.

Republic Act 7478, which granted SIAM a  franchise, prohibits the network from leasing or assigning its franchise or rights and privileges to a third party  without prior approval from Congress.

Astillero said Cebu CFI agreed to pay SIAM P180,000 a month not as rent  but compensation for allowing the cooperative to manage and operate three radio stations under the SIAM franchise.

PAFI, on the other hand, has been paying SIAM P104,166.67 a month since 2002.