Grant of Temporary Permit to Mindanao Colleges (Radio Station)

June 14, 1950

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 514

AN ACT GRANTING THE MINDANAO COLLEGES A TEMPORARY PERMIT TO ESTABLISH A RADIO BROADCASTING STATION

SECTION 1. There is hereby granted to the Mindanao Colleges, hereinafter referred to as the "grantee," a temporary permit to construct, maintain and operate in the Philippines, at such place as the said grantee may select, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Industry, a radio broadcasting station for commercial and educational purposes. cd

SECTION 2. This temporary permit shall continue to be in force during the time that the government has not established similar service at the place selected by the grantee, and is made upon the express condition that the same shall be void unless the construction of said station be begun within one and a half years from the approval of said temporary permit.

SECTION 3. This grant and concession is likewise made 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 its station 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 4. (a) This temporary permit shall not take effect nor shall any powers thereunder be exercised by the grantee until the Secretary of Commerce and Industry shall have allotted to the grantee the frequencies and wave lengths to be used thereunder and issued to the grantee license for such use.

(b) The Secretary of Commerce and Industry, on reasonable notice to the grantee, may at any time change, or cancel, or modify, in whole or in part, any or all of the allotments of frequencies or wave lengths to be used. He may take such action: (1) whenever in his judgment such frequencies and wave lengths have been used, or there is danger that they will be used by the grantee to impair electrical communication, or stifle competition, or to obtain a monopoly in electrical communication, or to secure unreasonable rates for such communication, or otherwise to violate the laws or public policy of the Philippine Republic; (2) whenever in his judgment the public interest of the Philippines requires that such frequencies or wave lengths should be used for other purposes than those of the grantee, either by the Government of the Philippines or by other individuals or corporations licensed by it; (3) whenever in his judgment for any reason the public interests of the Philippines so requires.

(c) The Secretary of Commerce and Industry is authorized to appoint, employ or make use of such boards, commissions, or agents as in his discretion he may select, to investigate, and determine the facts upon which he may act as aforesaid, and such boards, commissions and agents shall have the right by compulsory process of subpoena, to summon witnesses, administer oaths, and take evidence.

SECTION 5. The station of the grantee shall be so constructed and operated that a minimum of interference will result and the wave lengths selected with a view to avoiding interference with existing stations and to permit of the expansion of the grantee's services. cd i

SECTION 6. A special right is reserved to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, in time of war, insurrection, or domestic trouble, to take over and operate the said station upon the order and direction of any authorized department of the Government of the Philippines without compensating the grantee for the use of said station during the period when they shall be so operated by the said Government.

SECTION 7. The right is hereby reserved to the Government of the Philippines, through the Public Service Commission, or such other office as may be thereunto duly authorized, to fix the maximum and minimum rates to be charged by the grantee.

SECTION 8. The grantee shall keep an account of the gross receipts of the business transacted by it, and shall furnish to the Auditor General and the Treasurer of the Philippines a copy of such account not later than the thirty-first day of January of each year for the preceding year. For the purpose of auditing accounts so rendered to the Auditor General and National Treasurer, all of the books and accounts of the grantee shall be subject to the official inspection of the Auditor General or his authorized representatives, and the audit and approval of such accounts shall be final and conclusive evidence as to the amount of said gross receipts, except that the grantee shall have the right to appeal to the Courts, under the terms and conditions provided in the laws of the Philippines.

SECTION 9. (a) The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes, unless exempted therefrom, on its 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.

(b) The grantee shall further pay to the Treasurer of the Philippines each year, within ten days after the audit and approval of the accounts as prescribed in this Act, one and one-half per centum of all gross receipts from business transacted under this temporary permit by the said grantee in the Philippines.

SECTION 10. 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 station of the grantee.

SECTION 11. The grantee shall be subject to the corporation laws of the Philippines now existing or hereafter enacted.

SECTION 12. The grantee shall not issue stocks or bonds except in exchange for actual cash or for property at a fair valuation equal to the par value of the stocks or bonds so issued, and shall not declare stock or bond dividends. cdt

SECTION 13. The temporary permit hereby granted shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so requires.

SECTION 14. The grantee shall execute a bond in favor of the Government of the Philippines in the sum of fifty thousand pesos, in a form and with sureties satisfactory to the Secretary of Commerce and Industry, conditioned upon the faithful performance of the grantee's obligations hereunder during the first three years of the life of this temporary permit. If, after three years from the date of acceptance of this temporary permit, 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 Commerce and Industry.

SECTION 15. Acceptance of this temporary permit shall be given in writing within six months after the approval of this Act. When so accepted by the grantee and upon the approval of the bond aforesaid by the Secretary of Commerce and Industry the grantee shall be empowered to exercise the privileges granted thereby.

SECTION 16. The grantee shall not lease, transfer, grant the usufruct of, sell or assign this temporary permit 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 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 the conditions, terms, restrictions and limitations of this temporary permit as fully and completely and to the same extent as if the temporary permit had been originally granted to the said person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity.

SECTION 17. The grantee shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play or other matter to be broadcast from its 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 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.

SECTION 18. The term Public Service Commission, as herein used, means said commission as from time to time constituted, or any other governmental body as from time to time constituted or hereafter created in place of or to succeed the said Public Service Commission. acd

SECTION 19. This temporary permit shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.

SECTION 20. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 14, 1950

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 46, No. 8, p. 3580 in August 1950