Grant of Radio and Television Broadcasting Franchise to Feati Institute of Technology

June 19, 1960

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2943

AN ACT GRANTING THE FEATI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY A FRANCHISE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION OF A RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING STATION IN THE CITY OF MANILA FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES

SECTION 1. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, as well as of Act Numbered Three thousand eight hundred forty-six, entitled "An Act providing for the regulation of radio stations and radio communications in the Philippine Islands, and for other purposes;" Act Numbered Three thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, known as the Radio Broadcasting Law; Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred forty-six, known as the Public Service Act, and their amendments, and other applicable laws, not inconsistent with this Act, the Feati Institute of Technology is hereby granted a franchise to construct, maintain and operate, for educational purposes and in the interest of the public, a radio and television broadcasting station in the City of Manila.

SECTION 2. This franchise shall continue for a period of twenty-five years from the date the said station shall start to operate, subject to the express condition that same shall be void unless the construction of said station be begun within six months from the date of approval of this Act and be completed within two years from said date.

SECTION 3. As a condition of the granting of this franchise, the grantee shall execute a bond in favor of the Government of the Philippines, in the sum of fifty thousand pesos, in form and with sureties satisfactory to the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, conditioned upon the faith performance of the grantee's obligations hereunder during the first three years of the life of this franchise. If, after four years from the date of acceptance of this franchise, the grantee shall have fulfilled said obligations, or as soon thereafter as the grantee shall have fulfilled the same, the bond aforesaid shall be cancelled by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications.

SECTION 4. This franchise is also granted upon the express condition that the grantee shall contribute to the public and national welfare, assist in public information and education, abide by the accepted ethics and practices of honest enterprise, and shall not use its station for the dissemination of deliberately false information or willful misrepresentation, or to the detriment of public health, or to incite, encourage or assist in subversive or treasonable acts.

SECTION 5. Until the Secretary of Public Works and Communications shall have assigned the grantee the frequency and wave length to be used under this franchise and issued to the grantee a license for such use, the grantee's station shall not be put in actual operation.

SECTION 6. The grantee's broadcasting station shall be so constructed and operated and the frequency and wave length so selected as to avoid interference with existing radio and television stations and to permit the expansion of the grantee's services.

SECTION 7. In time of war, rebellion, public peril, or other national emergency and when public safety requires, a special right is reserved to the President of the Republic of the Philippines to cause the closing of the said station or to authorize the use and operation thereof by any department of the government without compensating the grantee for the use of said station during the continuance of the national emergency.

SECTION 8. Unless exempted therefrom, 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.

SECTION 9. The franchise hereby granted shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so requires. cd

SECTION 10. Within six months after the approval of this Act, acceptance of this franchise shall be given in writing by the grantee. The grantee shall be empowered to exercise the privileges granted thereby, when so accepted.

SECTION 11. 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, or corporation or other commercial or legal entity, nor merge with any other company or corporation organized for the same purpose, without the prior approval of the Congress of the Philippines. Any corporation to which this franchise may be sold, transferred or assigned shall be subject to the corporation laws of the Philippines now existing or hereafter enacted, and any person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity to which this franchise is sold, transferred or assigned shall be subject to all conditions, terms, restrictions and limitations of this franchise as fully and completely and to the same extent as if the franchise had been originally granted to the said person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity.

SECTION 12. This franchise shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges provided for herein.

SECTION 13. This Act shall take effect upon its approval. aisa dc

Enacted without Executive approval, June 19, 1960.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 57, No. 16, p. 2868 on April 17, 1961