Amendment to R.A. No. 1343 (Grant of Permit to Manila Chronicle)

June 21, 1969

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5731

AN ACT AMENDING THE TITLE AND CERTAIN SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED THIRTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE, ENTITLED "AN ACT GRANTING THE MANILA CHRONICLE A PERMIT TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE RADIO BROADCASTING STATIONS AND STATIONS FOR TELEVISION IN THE PHILIPPINES"

SECTION 1. Section one of Republic Act Numbered Thirteen hundred and forty-three is hereby amended to read as follows: cd

"Sec. 1. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the Chronicle Broadcasting Network is hereby granted a franchise for a period of fifty years from the approval of this Amendatory Act, to construct, maintain and operate, for commercial purposes and in the public interest, radio broadcasting stations and stations for television in the Philippines: Provided, That the grantee shall provide adequate public service time to enable the Government, through the said radio broadcasting stations and stations for television, to reach the population on important public issues; shall assist in the functions of public information and education; shall conform to the ethics of honest enterprise; and shall not use its stations for the broadcasting and/or telecasting of obscene or indecent language, speech, act or scene, or for the dissemination of deliberately false information, or willful misrepresentation, or to the detriment of the public health, or to incite, encourage, or assist in subversive or treasonable acts."

SECTION 2. Section three of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 3. The grantee shall file a bond in the amount of fifty thousand pesos to guaranty for the full compliance and fulfillment of the conditions under which this franchise is granted. If after four years from the date of the approval of this Act, the grantee shall have fulfilled said conditions, or as soon thereafter as the grantee shall have fulfilled the same the bond aforesaid shall be cancelled by the Government."

SECTION 3. Section four of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 4. In the event of any competing individual, partnership or corporation receiving from the Congress a similar permit or franchise in which there shall be any term or terms more favorable than those herein granted or tending to place the herein grantee at any disadvantage, then such term or terms shall, ipso facto, become a part of the terms hereof and shall operate equally in favor of the grantee as in the case of said competing individual, partnership or corporation."

SECTION 4. Section five of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 5. (a) The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes on its real estate, buildings and personal property, exclusive of the franchise as other persons or corporations are now or hereafter may be required by law to pay.

"(b) The grantee shall further be liable to pay all other taxes as provided in the National Internal Revenue Code by reason of this franchise." cdt

SECTION 5. Section six of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 6. In the event of war, rebellion, insurrection or similar national crisis when the Government shall find it necessary to maintain and operate for itself any or all of the stations herein authorized, the grantee shall turn over such station or stations to the Government after payment of just and reasonable compensation for the use thereof."

SECTION 6. Section eight of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 8. The grantee shall not lease, transfer, grant the usufruct of, sell or assign this franchise nor the rights and privileges acquired thereunder to any person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity, nor merge with any other company or corporation organized for the same purpose, without the approval of the Congress of the Philippines first had. Any corporation to which this franchise is sold, transferred or assigned, shall be subject to all the conditions, terms, restrictions and limitations of this franchise as fully and completely and to the same extent as if the franchise has been originally granted to the said person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity." cdt

SECTION 7. The title of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"An Act granting ABS-CBN the Chronicle Broadcasting Network a franchise to construct, maintain and operate radio broadcasting stations and stations for television in the Philippines."

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted without Executive approval, June 21, 1969. acd

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 66, No. 1, p. 19 on January 5, 1970