REPUBLIC ACT No. 4197
An Act Granting Visayas-Mindanao Broadcasting Network, Ltd., a Franchise to Construct, Maintain and Operate Radio Broadcasting Stations in the Philippines
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:
Section 1. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution and of Act Numbered Thirty-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 Thirty-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, Visayas-Mindanao Broadcasting Network, Ltd., is hereby granted a franchise to construct, maintain and operate for commercial purposes and in the public interest, radio broadcasting stations in the Philippines for a period of twenty-five years: Provided, That this franchise shall be void unless the construction of at least one radio broadcasting station be begun within two years from the date of approval of this Act and completed within four years from 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 issues; shall assist in the functions of public information and education; shall conform to ethics of honest enterprise; and shall not use said stations for 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. In the event of any competing individual, partnership or corporation receiving from the Congress a similar franchise 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 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 3. The grantee’s radio broadcasting stations shall not be put in actual operation until the Secretary of Public Works and Communications shall have allotted to the grantee the frequencies and wave lengths to be used under this franchise and issued to the grantee a license for such use; and that the same shall be so constructed and operated and the wave length so selected as to avoid interference with existing radio stations and to permit the expansion of the grantee’s service.
Section 4. The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes on its real estate, buildings and personal property, exclusive of the franchise as other persons or corporations are now or hereafter may be required by law to pay.
Section 5. The franchise herein granted shall be subject to amendment, alteration or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so requires.
Section 6. A special right is reserved to the President of the Philippines in time of war, rebellion, public peril, calamity, disaster or disturbance of peace and order, to cause the closing of said stations or to authorize the temporary use and operation thereof by any department of the government without compensating the grantee for the use of said stations during the period when they shall be so operated.
Section 7. As a condition to the granting of this franchise, the grantee shall execute a bond in favor of the Government of the Philippines in the sum of fifty thousand pesos, in form and with sureties satisfactory to the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, conditioned upon the faithful performance of the grantee’s obligations 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 obligations, or as soon thereafter as the grantee shall have fulfilled the same, the bond aforesaid shall be cancelled by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications.
Section 8. 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 aforesaid by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications the grantee shall be empowered to exercise the privileges granted thereby.
Section 9. The grantee shall not lease, transfer, grant the usufruct of, sell nor 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.
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 stations of the grantee.
Section 11. The grantee shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play or other matter to be broadcast from its 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, 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 12. This franchise shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.
Section 13. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved: June 19, 1965.
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