Grant of Temporary Permit to Efren V. Mendoza (Radio Stations)

June 19, 1960

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2999

AN ACT GRANTING EFREN V. MENDOZA OF MANILA, A TEMPORARY PERMIT TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE RADIO BROADCASTING STATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES

SECTION 1. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, as well as of Act Numbered three thousand eight hundred and 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 and ninety-seven, known as the Radio Broadcasting Law; Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, known as the Public Service Act, and their amendments, and other applicable laws, there is hereby granted to Efren V. Mendoza of Manila, a temporary permit to construct, maintain and operate, for commercial purposes and in the public interest, radio broadcasting stations in the Philippines: Provided, That this temporary permit shall be void unless the construction of at least one radio broadcasting station is begun within six months from the date of the approval of this Act and be completed within two years after said date: Provided, further, That the grantee shall provide adequate public service time to enable the Government through the stations herein authorized, 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 said stations for the broadcasting of obscene or indecent language or speech, 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. The grantee, his successors or assigns, shall hold the national, provincial, city and municipal governments of the Republic of the Philippines harmless from all claims, accounts, demands or actions arising out of accidents or injuries, whether to property or persons, caused by the construction or operation of his radio stations. acd

SECTION 3. The grantee shall file a bond in the amount of fifty thousand pesos to guaranty the full compliance and fulfillment of the conditions under which this temporary permit is granted.

SECTION 4. 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 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 stations during the continuance of the national emergency.

SECTION 5. In the event of any competing individual, partnership or corporation receiving from the Congress a similar temporary permit 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 6. In the event that the Government should desire to maintain and operate for itself any or all of the radio broadcasting 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 7. The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes or his real estate, buildings and personal property, exclusive of the temporary permit, as other persons or corporations are now or hereafter may be required by law to pay.

SECTION 8. 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 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 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, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity 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 to the same extent as if the temporary permit has been originally granted to the said person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity. aisa dc

SECTION 9. The grantee shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play or other matter to be broadcast from his stations, 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 may 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 permit.

SECTION 10. The temporary permit granted under this Act shall be subject to amendment, alterations, 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 privilege herein provided for.

SECTION 11. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted without Executive Approval, June 19, 1960.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 57, No. 20, p. 3691 on May 15, 1961