Grant of Temporary Permit to Batong-Buhay Gold Mines, Inc. (Radio Stations)

June 19, 1960

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2958

AN ACT GRANTING THE BATONG-BUHAY GOLD MINES, INC., A TEMPORARY PERMIT TO CONSTRUCT, ESTABLISH, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE PRIVATE FIXED POINT-TO-POINT RADIO STATIONS, PRIVATE COASTAL RADIO STATIONS, PRIVATE LAND BASED AND LAND MOBILE RADIO STATIONS AND AERONAUTICAL STATIONS FOR THE RECEPTION AND TRANSMISSION OF RADIO COMMUNICATIONS WITHIN THE PHILIPPINES

SECTION 1. There is hereby granted to the Batong-Buhay Gold Mines, Inc., a temporary permit to construct, establish, maintain and operate private fixed point-to-point radio stations, private coastal radio stations, private land based and land mobile radio stations and private aeronautical stations for the reception and transmission of radio communications within the Philippines.

SECTION 2. The President of the Philippines shall have the power and authority to permit the location of said stations or any of them on the public domain upon such terms as he may prescribe.

SECTION 3. This temporary permit shall continue to be in force during the time that the Government has not established similar services at the places selected by the grantee, and is granted upon the express condition that same shall be void unless the construction of at least one of the said stations be begun within one year from the date of approval of this Act and be completed within two years from said date. cd

SECTION 4. The grantee shall not engage in domestic business of telecommunications in the Philippines without further special assent of the Congress of the Philippines, it being understood that the purpose of this temporary permit is to secure to the grantee the right to construct, establish, maintain and operate private fixed point-to-point radio stations, private coastal radio stations, private land based and land mobile stations and private aeronautical stations at such places in the Philippines as the interest of the corporation and of its business may justify.

SECTION 5. This temporary permit shall not take effect until the Secretary of Public Works and Communications shall have allotted to the grantee the frequencies and wave lengths to be used thereunder, but the grantee may use the international distress frequencies of five hundred kilocycles and duly authorized high distress frequency whenever necessary.

SECTION 6. No fees shall be chargeable as the radio stations that may be established by virtue of this Act, shall engage in communications regarding the grantee's business only.

SECTION 7. The grantee shall so construct and operate its radio stations as not to interfere with the operation of other radio stations maintained and operated in the Philippines.

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 its radio stations.

SECTION 9. The grantee shall not lease, transfer, grant the usufruct of, sell or assign this temporary permit, nor the rights or privileges acquired thereunder, to any person, natural or juridical, nor merge with any other such person, without the approval of the Congress of the Philippines first had. Any corporation to which this temporary permit may be sold, transferred or assigned shall be subject to the corporation laws of the Philippines now existing or hereafter enacted, and any person, natural or juridical, to which this temporary permit is sold, transferred or assigned shall be subject to all conditions, terms, restrictions and limitations of this temporary permit as fully and completely and to same extent as if the temporary permit had been originally granted to the said person.

SECTION 10. A special right is hereby 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 the grantee's radio station or stations or to authorize the use or possession thereof by any department of the Government without compensation to the grantee for the use of said stations during the continuance of the national emergency. cdt

SECTION 11. This temporary permit shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so requires, and shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.

SECTION 12. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted without Executive Approval, June 19, 1960.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 57, No. 17, p. 3089 on April 24, 1961