Grant of Radio and Television Franchise to Pacific Broadcasting System, Inc.

June 20, 1959

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2371

AN ACT GRANTING THE PACIFIC BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC., A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE RADIO BROADCASTING AND TELEVISION STATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES

SECTION 1. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the Pacific Broadcasting System, Inc., is hereby granted a franchise to construct, maintain and operate, for commercial purposes and in the public interest, radio broadcasting and television stations in the Philippines: Provided, That this franchise shall be void unless the construction of at least one radio broadcasting station or one television station be begun within two years from the date of approval of this Act, and be completed within four years from said date: Provided, further, That the grantee shall provide adequate public service time to enable the Government, through the said radio broadcasting and television stations, 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. Such provisions of Act Numbered Thirty-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 Thirty-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, as are applicable to radio broadcasting stations, shall be applied, as far as practicable, to the television stations referred to in section one hereof.

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 Communications, conditioned upon the faithful 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. Acceptance of this franchise shall be given in writing within six months after the approval of this Act. When so accepted by the grantee and upon approval of the bond aforesaid by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications the grantee shall be empowered to exercise the privilege granted thereby.

SECTION 5. The grantee's radio broadcasting and television stations shall not be put in actual operation until the Secretary of Public Works and Communications shall have allotted to the grantee the frequency and wave lengths to be used under this franchise and issued to the grantee a license for such use.

SECTION 6. In the event of any competing individual, partnership or corporation receiving from the Congress a similar 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 7. (a) The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes on its real estate, buildings and personal property, exclusive of this 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 that may be imposed by the National Internal Revenue Code by reason of this franchise.

SECTION 8. The grantee shall hold the National, provincial and municipal governments of the Philippines harmless from all claims, accounts, demands or actions arising out of accidents or injuries, whether to property or to persons, caused by the construction or operation of the stations of the grantee.

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. casia

SECTION 10. In the event the Government should desire 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 with all the serviceable equipment therein at cost, less reasonable depreciation.

SECTION 11. A special right is reserved to the President of the Philippines in time of war, rebellion, public peril, emergency, calamity, disaster or disturbance of peace and order, to cause the closing of said stations or to authorize the temporary used and operation thereof by any department of the Government upon due compensation to the grantee for the use of said stations during the period when they shall be so operated.

SECTION 12. The grantee shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play, act or scene or other matter to be broadcast and/or telecast from its stations; but if any such speech, play, act or scene or other matter should constitute a violation of the law or infringement of a private right, the grantee shall be free from any liability, civil or criminal, for such speech, play, act or scene or other matter: Provided, That the grantee, during any broadcast and/or telecast, shall cut off from the air the speech, play, act or scene or other matter being broadcast and/or telecast, if the tendency thereof is to propose and/or incite treason, rebellion or sedition, or the language used therein or the theme thereof is indecent or immoral, and willful failure to do so shall constitute a valid cause for the cancellation of this franchise.

SECTION 13. 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 previous approval of the Congress of the Philippines. 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 the 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 14. Wherever in this franchise the term "grantee" is used, it shall be held and understood to mean Pacific Broadcasting System, Inc., its representatives, successors or assigns, unless the context indicates otherwise.

SECTION 15. This franchise shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for. casia

SECTION 16. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 20, 1959

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 55, No. 34, p. 6925 on August 24, 1959