Grant of Radio Broadcasting and Television Station Franchise to Cadiz Radio and Television Network, Inc.

June 21, 1969

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5813

AN ACT GRANTING CADIZ RADIO AND TELEVISION NETWORK INC. A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN RADIO BROADCASTING AND TELEVISION STATIONS IN NEGROS AND VISAYAS AND TO OPERATE PRIVATE FIXED POINT-TO-POINT AND MOBILE RADIO COMMUNICATIONS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH

SECTION 1. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, Cadiz Radio and Television Network Inc. is hereby granted a franchise, which shall continue in force during the time that the Government has not established similar service at the places selected by the grantee, but not exceeding twenty-five years, to construct, operate and maintain for commercial purposes and in the public interest, radio broadcasting and television stations in Negros and Visayas: 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 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 and 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 to 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 faithful performance of the grantee's obligations during the first years of the life of this franchise. If after four years from the date of approval of this franchise, the grantee shall have fulfilled said obligations, or as soon thereafter as the grantee shall have fulfilled the same, the bond shall be cancelled by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications.

SECTION 4. 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: Provided, however, That it shall have the right to operate VHF (Very High Frequency) point-to-point single sideband communications.

SECTION 5. 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 individual, partnership or corporation. cd

SECTION 6. (a) Unless exempted therefrom, the grantee shall be liable for taxes on its real estate, buildings and personal property, used in the operation of its radio broadcasting and television stations, exclusive of the franchise, as other persons or corporations are now or hereafter may be required by law to pay. (b) The grantee shall pay all other taxes that may be imposed by the National Internal Revenue Code by reason of this franchise.

SECTION 7. The grantee shall hold the national, provincial, and municipal governments of the Philippines free 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 8. The franchise hereby granted shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so requires.

SECTION 9. 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 10. A special right is reserved to the President of the Philippines in time of war, rebellion, public peril, or other national emergency, when public safety requires, to cause the closing of said stations or to authorize the use and operation thereof by any department of the Government without compensation to the grantee for the use of said stations during continuance of the national emergency.

SECTION 11. 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 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. Willful failure to do so shall constitute a valid cause for the cancellation of this franchise.

SECTION 12. The grantee shall not lease, transfer, sell or assign this franchise or 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 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 had been originally granted to the said person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity.

SECTION 13. There is also hereby granted to the grantee in connection with this franchise, the authority to operate in the Philippines at such places as it may select, private fixed point-to-point and land mobile radio stations for the reception and transmission of wireless messages, but the grantee shall not engage in the business of telecommunications in the Philippines.

SECTION 14. Whenever in this franchise the term "grantee" is used, it shall be held and understood to mean the Cadiz Radio and Television Network, Inc.", its representatives, successors or assigns, unless the context indicate otherwise. casia

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

SECTION 16. In consideration of this franchise the grantee shall pay a tax equivalent to five percent of its gross income.

SECTION 17. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted without Executive approval, June 21, 1969.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 66, No. 5, p. 974 on February 2, 1970