[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6419, October 04, 1971 ]
AN ACT GRANTING PATRICIO MEDALLA A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN AN ICE PLANT AND COLD STORAGE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF STO. TOMAS, PROVINCE OF BATANGAS, AND TO SELL ICE AND SUPPLY COLD STORAGE IN THE WHOLE PROVINCE OF BATANGAS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Subject to the conditions imposed by this Act, there is hereby granted Patricio Medalla, hereinafter referred to as the grantee, a franchise to construct, operate and maintain an ice plant and cold storage in the Municipality of Sto. Tomas, Province of Batangas, for the manufacture and distribution of ice, to supply cold storage in the whole Province of Batangas, and to charge and collect a schedule of prices and rates for the ice and cold storage so furnished, which schedule of prices and rates shall, at all times, be subject to regulation by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor.
Section 2. The grantee shall manufacture and supply ice up to the limit of the capacity of his plant, said limit to be determined by the Public Service Commission or his legal successor in such certificate of convenience and Public necessity as may be issued by it as prescribed by Section four hereof.
Section 3. All apparatus and appurtenances to be used by the grantee shall be modern, safe and first class in every Aspect, and the grantee shall, whenever the Public Service Commission shall determine that public interest reasonably requires it, change or alter any of his apparatus and appurtenances at grantee's expense.
Section 4. This franchise shall continue for a period of twenty-five years from the date said plant and cold storage shall be placed in operation and shall commence the manufacture and distribution of ice whenever it is established, and is made subject to the express condition that the same shall be null and void unless the construction of said plant and cold storage be begun within one year from the date of approval of this Act and completed within three years from said date, except when prevented by an act of God, force majeure, martial law, riot, civil commotion, usurpation by military power or any other cause beyond the grantee's control.1âшphi1
Section 5. After the grantee's compliance with the requirements of the next preceding section, the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, by proper orders or writ, shall authorize the construction of necessary work for the purpose of this franchise within a reasonable time to be determined by the said Commission.
Upon determination by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor after a hearing, upon reasonable written notice to the grantee, that the latter has violated any of the provisions of this section as to the commencement or completion of work authorized by the certificate of convenience and public necessity, the said Commission or its legal successor shall declare the bond or bonds forfeited as liquidated damages and not as penalty to the National Government. Said Commission or its legal successor shall order the return of the deposit as afore-stated, together with any interest or dividends thereon received by the Treasurer of the Philippines, to the grantee upon the satisfactory completion of any work authorized by its certificate of convenience and public necessity, in accordance with the terms and conditions of said certificate obtained, and the Treasurer of the Philippines shall return said deposit to the grantee together with said interest and/or dividends immediately upon presentation to him of a certified copy of such order of the Public Service Commission or its legal successor.
Section 6. The books, records and accounts of the grantee shall always be open to the inspection of the municipal treasurer of the town where the ice plant and cold storage is established, or his authorized representatives, and it shall be the duty of the grantee to submit to the said municipal treasurer quarterly reports in quadruplicate showing the gross receipts for the quarter past, one copy of which shall be forwarded by the said treasurer to the Auditor General, who shall keep the same on file.
Section 7. The grantee, with the approval of the Congress of the Philippines first had, may sell, lease, grant, convey, assign, give in usufruct, or transfer the franchise and all property rights acquired thereunder to any individual, copartnership, private, public or quasi-public association, corporation, or joint stock company competent to operate the business hereby authorized, but transfer of title to the franchise or any right of ownership or interest acquired under such sale, lease, grant, conveyance, assignment, gift in usufruct, or transfer shall not be effective even after such approval shall have been obtained, until there shall be filed in the office of the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, an agreement in. writing by which the individual, co-partnership, private, public or quasi-public association, corporation, or joint stock company in whose favor such sale, assignment, gift in usufruct, or transfer is made, shall be firmly bound to comply with all the terms and conditions imposed upon the grantee by this franchise therefor issued by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, and to accept the same, subject to all existing terms and conditions.
The Public Service Commission or its legal successor have the power, after a reasonable written notice the grantee and a hearing of the interested parties, to declare the forfeiture of this franchise and all rights inherent in the same, for failure on the part of the grantee to comply with] any of the terms and conditions hereof, unless such failure shall have been caused directly primarily by an act of God, force majeure, usurpation of rights, uprising, or other cause beyond the grantee's control. Against such declaration of forfeiture by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, the grantee may apply for the remedies provided in Sections thirty-four and thirty-six of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended. he remedy provided herein shall not be a bar to any other remedies provided by existing laws for the forfeiture of the franchise.
Section 8. This franchise is granted subject to the provisions of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended, and with the understanding and upon the condition that it shall be subject to amendment, alteration or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when public interest so requires.
Section 9. In consideration of the franchise and rights hereby granted, the grantee shall pay a franchise tax equal to five per centum of the gross earnings under this franchise, three per centum of which shall accrue to the national government and two per centum to the municipality where the franchise is being operated.
Section 10. The franchise herein granted shall be inoperative in those municipalities where there is already an existing franchise for the game service herein granted.
Section 11. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Enacted without Executive approval, October 4, 1971.
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