Grant of Temporary Permit to Philippine President Lines, Inc. (Radio Stations)

June 19, 1960

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2994

AN ACT GRANTING THE PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT LINES, INC., A TEMPORARY PERMIT TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE PRIVATE FIXED POINT-TO-POINT AND PRIVATE COASTAL RADIO STATIONS FOR THE RECEPTION AND TRANSMISSION OF RADIO COMMUNICATIONS WITHIN THE PHILIPPINES

SECTION 1. There is hereby granted to the Philippine President Lines, Inc., its successors or assigns, a temporary permit to construct, maintain and operate in the Philippines, at the following places, to wit: Main office — Manila City; Cañacao, Province of Cavite; Dalupiri Island, Province of Cagayan; Nasipit, Province of Agusan; Tungao, Province of Agusan; Camp Carmelita, Coron Island, Province of Palawan; Bugo, Province of Misamis Oriental; Ozamiz City, Province of Misamis Occidental; Del Monte, Province of Bukidnon; ships of the Philippine President Lines, Inc., and such places as the said grantee may select, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, private fixed point-to-point and private coastal radio stations for the reception and transmission of wireless messages on radiotelegraphy or radiotelephony, each station to be provided with a radio transmitting apparatus and a radio receiving apparatus.

SECTION 2. The President of the Philippines shall have the power and authority to permit the location of said private fixed point-to-point and private coastal radio stations or any of them on lands of the public domain upon such terms as he may prescribe. cdt

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

SECTION 4. The grantee, its successors or assigns, 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, maintain and operate private fixed point-to-point and private coastal radio stations at such places within the Philippines as the interest of the grantee and of its trade and 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, its successors or assigns, may use the international distress frequency of five hundred kilocycles and the high distress frequency of eight thousand two hundred eighty kilocycles whenever necessary.

SECTION 6. No fees are 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, its successors or assigns, 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, its successors or assigns, 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, its successors or assigns, shall be subject to the corporation laws of the Philippines now existing or hereafter enacted. cd

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.

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. 20, p. 3683 on May 15, 1961