REPUBLIC ACT No. 4794
An Act Granting Edmundo I. Perez a Franchise to Construct, Maintain and Operate Radio Broadcasting and Television Stations in the Province of Camarines Sur
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:
Section 1. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, Act Numbered Three thousand eight hundred 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 ninety-seven, known as the Radio Broadcasting Law, Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred forty-six, known as the Public Service Act, and their amendments, and other applicable laws not inconsistent with this Act, Edmundo I. Perez is hereby granted a franchise to establish, maintain and operate radio broadcasting and television stations in the Province of Camarines Sur, with principal station in the City of Naga.
Section 2. This franchise shall continue for a period of twenty-five years from the date said stations shall be put in operation.
Section 3. This franchise is likewise made upon the express condition that the grantee shall provide adequate public service time to enable the Government, through his stations, to reach the population on important issues, shall assist in the function of public information and education, shall conform to the ethics of honest enterprise, and shall not use his stations for the dissemination of deliberately false information or willful misrepresentations, or to the detriment of the public health and morals, or incite, encourage or assist in subversive or treasonable acts.
Section 4. The grantee’s radio broadcasting and television stations shall not be put in actual operation until the Secretary of Public Works and Communications shall have allotted to the grantee the frequency and wave length and channel to be used under this franchise and issued to the grantee a license for such use.
Section 5. The radio broadcasting and television stations of the grantee shall be so constructed and its wave length and channel so selected as to avoid interference with existing radio and television stations and to further afford the expansion of the grantee’s service.
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. The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes, unless exempted therefrom, on his 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. He shall be liable further to pay all other taxes as provided for in the National Internal Revenue Code by reason of this franchise.
Section 8. Acceptance of this franchise shall be given in writing by the grantee within six months from the approval of this Act; when so accepted, the grantee shall be empowered to exercise the privilege granted thereby.
Section 9. The grantee shall post a bond in the amount of ten thousand pesos to answer for the fulfillment of the terms embodied in the franchise. If after two years from the date of the acceptance of the franchise the grantee shall have complied with the terms thereof, the Secretary of Public Works and Communications shall cause the cancellation of the aforesaid bond.
Section 10. The grantee shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play, act, or scene or other matter for broadcast or telecast, from his stations; but if any speech, play, act or scene or other matter should constitute a violation of any law or infringement of a private right, the grantee shall be free from any criminal or civil liability whatsoever which might arise by reason of such speech, play, act or scene or other matter.1avvphi1 The grantee, however, reserves the right to cut off from the air any broadcast or telecast which in any manner tends to incite treason, rebellion or sedition, or the theme or language used therein is indecent or immoral.
Section 11. 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. 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 12. The franchise hereby granted shall be subject to amendment, alteration or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when public interest so requires, and 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 18, 1966.
The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation
