‘RP letter supporting Verizon deal authentic’

Prospective Verizon buyer Pacific Telecom Inc. insisted yesterday on the existence and authenticity of a letter by the Philippine government to Gov. Juan N. Babauta, which expressed support for the company’s bid to take over the telecom firm’s operations from Micronesian Telecommunications Corp.

MTC general manager Tony Mosley said the letter was sent to the governor by mail. Both PTI’s Jose Ricardo P.R. Delgado, the company’s vice president for business development, and Mosley assured they would send another copy of the letter to the governor.

A recent news article quoted the governor as saying that he had not received any letter from the Philippine government, which backed PTI’s bid to purchase Verizon. It said the governor inquired about the letter at the Philippine Consulate General on Saipan, which was not reportedly aware of its existence.

The Babauta administration reportedly asked the consulate office to verify the existence and authenticity of the letter and why it had not been delivered through regular channels. It also asked about Philippine regulations on foreign ownership in media and local transportation, especially in telecommunications.

Reacting to the news article, Delgado said that, while there are some restrictions on foreign equity investment in the Philippines, foreign ownership has proven to be doing well, citing the situation of the Asian country’s biggest telecom firm, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

“PLDT, despite that rule, has a very complicated structure and is effectively owned and managed by foreigners [First Pacific],” Delgado said. “And PLDT is being run better than ever under foreign hands, by the way.”

“Moreover, there is the same thing in the United States where they only allow 25 percent of equity to be owned by foreigners,” Delgado said. “However, that is a federal rule, and that said, they did give PTI a full exemption because they deemed it to be in the public good.”

PTI and MTC sent a copy of the letter dated Sept. 27, 2004, to the Saipan Tribune on Nov. 14. It was signed by the republic’s Department of Trade and Industry’s acting secretary Thomas G. Aquino.

The letter supported PTI’s bid and asked the Babauta administration to have a “fair stance” toward the Filipino-controlled company. “The Philippine government stands behind them, and will support them in their efforts,” Aquino said in the letter.

PTI stands to become one of the first Filipino-owned investments in the United States’ telecommunications industry if it finally takes over Verizon’s operations in the CNMI.

The letter claimed that the Philippine government has been closely watching developments in PTI’s pending application for approval of the telecom deal before the Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission, noting the prolonged process due to the CNMI governor’s reservations.