REPUBLIC ACT No. 4630
AN ACT AMENDING ACT NUMBERED THIRTY-FOUR HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE, AS AMENDED, GRANTING GLOBE WIRELESS, LIMITED, OF THE PHILIPPINES, A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE IN THE PHILIPPINES STATIONS FOR THE RECEPTION AND TRANSMISSION OF WIRELESS MESSAGES.
Section 1. Act Numbered Thirty-four hundred ninety-five granting Robert Dollar Company a franchise to construct, maintain, and operate in the Philippines stations for the reception and transmission of wireless long distance messages, as amended, which franchise was later transferred and conveyed to Globe Wireless Limited, pursuant to Act Numbered Forty-one hundred fifty, is further amended by striking out therefrom all of the provisions thereof and substituting therefor the following:
"Sec. 1. There is hereby granted to Globe Wireless, Limited, a Philippine corporation to be renamed Globe-Mackay Cable and Radio Corporation, hereinafter referred to as the grantee, the right and privilege of constructing, maintaining and operating communication systems by radio, wire, satellites, and other means now known to science or which in the future may be developed for the reception and transmission of telecommunications between any point in the Philippines to points exterior thereto, including airplanes, airships, or vessels, even though such airplanes, airship or vessels may be located within the territorial limits of the Philippines.
"Sec. 2. Subject to the limitations and procedure prescribed by law, the grantee is authorized to exercise the right of eminent domain insofar as may be reasonably necessary to further the establishment and efficient maintenance and operation of its communication systems, and with the prior approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, the grantee is authorized to construct, maintain its works of public utility and service over and across public property of the Philippines, including streets, highways, squares and reservations, and other similar property of the government of the Philippines and its branches.
"Sec. 3. For the purpose of carrying out the privilege granted herein, the grantee may establish stations in such places in the Philippines as the grantee may select and the Secretary of Public Works and Communications may approve. The grantee may likewise avail of, or utilize, through purchase, lease, or other form of arrangement with third parties, any other kinds or means of communications systems now known to science or which in the future may be developed.
"Sec. 4. (a) The Secretary of Public Works and Communications shall have the power to allot to the grantee the frequencies and wave lengths to be used thereunder, and determine the stations to and from which each such frequency and wave length may be used, and issue to the grantee a license for such use.
"(b) The Secretary of Public Works and Communications, 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 communications, 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 Philippines; (2) whenever in his judgment the public interests of the Philippines require 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 require.
"(c) The Secretary of Public Works and Communications 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.
"Sec. 5. The Public Service Commission is hereby given jurisdiction over the grantee only with respect to the rates which the grantee may charge the public, subject to international commitment made or adhered to by the Republic of the Philippines.
"Sec. 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 stations upon the order and direction of any authorized department of the government of the Philippines, such department of compensate the grantee for the use of said stations during the period when they shall be so operated by the said government.
"Sec. 7. The grantee shall keep a separate account of the gross receipts of the business transacted by it in the Philippines, and shall furnish 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 the books and accounts of the grantee, or duplicate thereof, so far as they relate to the business transacted in the Philippines, shall be kept in the Philippines, and shall be subject to the official inspection of the Auditor General or his authorized representatives, and the audit approval of such accounts shall be final and conclusive evidence as the amount of said gross receipts, except that the grantee shall have the right to appeal to the courts of the Philippines, under the terms and conditions provided in the laws of the Philippines.
"Sec. 8. (a) 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.
"(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, five per centum of all gross receipts from business transacted under this franchise by the said grantee in the Philippines.
"Sec. 9. 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.
"Sec. 10. The grantee shall be subject to the corporation laws of the Philippines now existing or hereafter enacted.
"Sec. 11. It shall be unlawful for the grantee to use, employ, or contract, for the labor a person held in involuntary servitude.
"Sec. 12. The franchise hereby granted shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines, and the rights to use and occupy public property and places hereby granted shall revert to the respective government entities, upon the termination of this franchise, by such repeal or by forfeiture, or expiration is due course. Unless earlier terminated by any such repeal or forfeiture, or extended, the franchise and rights hereby granted shall terminate by expiration of time fifty years after the date of the acceptance of this Act by the grantee.
"Sec. 13. As a condition of 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 a 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 fulfilled the same, the bond aforesaid shall be canceled by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications.
"Sec. 14. 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 thereby.
"Sec. 15. 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 company or corporation organized for the same purpose, without the approval of the Congress of the Philippines first had.
"Sec. 16. 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, hereafter created in place of or in succession to said Public Service Commission.
"Sec. 17. This franchise shall not be interpreted to mean an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.
"Sec. 18. Nothing in this franchise shall be construed to authorize the grantee to engage in domestic communication service."
Section 2. This Act shall take effect upon the approval.
Approved: June 19, 1965
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