Grant of Radio Broadcasting Franchise to Benjamin Romualdez

June 17, 1961

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 3126

AN ACT GRANTING BENJAMIN ROMUALDEZ, A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE A RADIO BROADCASTING STATION IN THE CITY OF TACLOBAN

SECTION 1.  Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, as well as Act Numbered Three thousand eight hundred forty-six, entitled "An Act providing for the regulation or 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, Benjamin Romualdez is hereby granted a franchise to construct, maintain and operate a radio broadcasting station in the City of Tacloban.

SECTION 2.  This franchise shall continue for a period of twenty-five years from the date the said station shall be put in operation and is granted upon the express condition that the same shall be void unless the construction of said station be begun within two years from the date of approval of this Act and completed within four years from said date. cd

SECTION 3.  This franchise is likewise granted upon the express condition that the grantee shall contribute to the public welfare, shall assist in the functions of public information and education, shall conform to the ethics of honest enterprise, and shall not use his 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 4.  The grantee's radio broadcasting station 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 length to be used under this franchise and issued to the grantee a license for such use.

SECTION 5.  A special right is reserved to the President of the Philippines in time of war, rebellion, public peril, or other national emergency and 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 compensating the grantee for the use of said station during the continuance of the national emergency. casia

SECTION 6.  The grantee, his successors or assigns, shall be liable to the percentage tax prescribed in Section one hundred ninety-one of the National Internal Revenue Code, which shall be in lieu of any and all taxes of any kind, nature or description, levied, established, or collected by any authority whatsoever, municipal, provincial or national, now or hereafter.

SECTION 7.  The grantee, his successors or assigns, shall hold the national, provincial and municipal governments of the Philippines harmless from all claims, demands, or actions arising out accidents or injuries, whether to property or to persons, caused by the construction or operation of the station 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.  As a condition of the granting of this franchise, the grantee shall execute a bond in favor of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, in the sum of ten thousand pesos, in form and with sureties satisfactory to the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, conditioned upon faithful performance of the grantee's obligation hereunder during the first three years of the life of this franchise. If after three years from the date of acceptance of this franchise, the grantee shall have fulfilled said obligation, or soon thereafter as the grantee shall have fulfilled the same, the bond shall be cancelled by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications.

SECTION 10.  Acceptance of this franchise shall be given in writing within six months after approval of this Act. When so accepted by the grantee and upon approval of the bond by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, the grantee shall be empowered to exercise the privileges granted thereby.

SECTION 11.  The grantee shall not lease, transfer, grant the usufruct of, 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 person, 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 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. casia

SECTION 12.  The grantee shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play or other matter to be broadcast from his station; but if any such speech, play 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 or other matter: Provided, That the grantee, during any broadcast shall cut off from the air the speech, play or other matter being broadcast 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.  This franchise shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privilege herein provided for.

SECTION 14.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 17, 1961

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 58, No. 2, p. 191 on January 8, 1962