A consortium backed by former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit” Singson has questioned the legality of the selection of Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co. Inc. (Mislatel) as provisional third telco (telecommunications company) player.

Singson on Tuesday blamed the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for the disqualification of Sear Telecom, composed of LCS (Luis Chavit Singson) Group and TierOne, for not doing its job and for changing the rules of the bidding in the middle of the game.

According to him, the NTC conducted a bidding last March and their group was the only bidder, but despite that a second bidding was conducted.

The NTC, he pointed out, changed its own rules.

Before, the commission said a consortium was needed to be able to participate in the bidding but this requirement was later changed, allowing those with existing franchise to join.

"We are not doing this to create chaos or delay the process,” he told a forum in Manila

Singson said they were questioning the process because the NTC was not transparent in its undertakings.

"We are for the people. We are doing this for the people. We want to break the duopoly,” he pointed out.

According to Singson, he wanted President Rodrigo Duterte to know what transpired before and during the bidding, claiming that Duterte was made to believe that everything was legal when it was not.

He maintained that the consortium of Mislatel, Udenna Corp., China Telecommunication Corp. and Chelsea Logistics Holding Corp. should also have been disqualified for concealing information on "exclusivity” and "right of first refusal” that Mislatel signed with Sears last May or months before the bidding.

Singson said Mislatel should have been disqualified outright for hiding information.

"Prior to the bidding, we already secured a franchise, which was Mislatel, our original partner. They [Mislatel] signed a contract [with us] last May for exclusivity and the shares were all fully paid. Then we paid another P5 million for the right of first refusal. They received the money and signed the contract. It’s all there [in the documents],” he added.

It all changed, Singson pointed out, when Dennis Uy of Udenna Corp. entered the picture by pirating Mislatel even as the latter had already signed an exclusivity contract with the LCS Group.

The turn of events, he said, prompted his group to acquire the Sear’s franchise but was still disqualified for their failure to comply with the required $700 million participation security.

Singson explained that he presented to the NTC a letter from their bank in New York asking for the right language on the terms of requirements on the $700 million bond to trigger the release of their letter of credit.

But just the same, he said, his group submitted a manager’s check to the NTC to cover the $700 million bond.

One month before the bidding, Singson added, they wrote a letter to the NTC, informing the commission that Mislatel had signed an exclusivity contract and right of first refusal.

A copy of the letter received by the NTC was presented by Singson to the media.

"We don’t mind losing if it is fair and square. They [NTC] broke their own rules. I’m blaming the NTC for not doing its job. This controversy should have been avoided had NTC done its job,” Singson said.