Sixteenth Congress
Third Regular Session
Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-seventh day of July, two thousand fifteen.
[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10773, May 03, 2016 ]
AN ACT RENEWING FOR ANOTHER TWENTY-FIVE (25) YEARS THE FRANCHISE GRANTED TO EAGLE BROADCASTING CORPORATION AS PROVIDED UNDER REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7299
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Nature and Scope of Franchise. Subject to the provisions of the 1987 Philippines Constitution and applicable laws, rules, and regulations, the franchise granted to Eagle Broadcasting Corporation, hereunder referred to as the grantee, and/or its successors amd assignees to construct, install, establish, operate and maintain for commercial purposes and in the public interest, radio and/or television broadcasting stations in the Philippines, where frequencies and/or channels ares still available or are assigned for radio and/or television broadcasting, including digital televsion and/or radio systems, through microwave, satellite or the use of any new technological auxiliaries and/or facilities, special broadcast and other program and distribution services and relay stations, is hereby renewed for another twenty-five (25) years from November 3, 2018.
Section 2. Manner of Operation of Stations or Facilities. The stations or facilities of the grantee shall be constructed and operated in a manner as will, at most, result only in the minimum interference on the wavelengths or frequencies of existing stations or other stations which may be established by law, without in any way diminishing its own right to use its selected wavelengths or frequencies and the quality of transmission or reception thereon as should maximize rendition of the grantee's services and/or the availability thereof.
Section 3. Prior Approval of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). The grantee shall secure from the NTC the appropriate permits and licenses for the operation of its stations and facilities and shall not use any frequency in the radio/television spectrum without authorization from the NTC. The NTC, however, shall not unreasonably withhold or delay the grant of such authority.
Section 4. Responsibility to the Public. The grantee shall provide adequate public service time to enable the government, through the said broadcasting stations or facilities, to reach the population on important public issues; provide at all times sound and balanced programming; assist in the functions of public information and education; conform to the ethics of honest enterprise; and not use its stations and facilities for the broadcasting of obsence and indecent language, speech, act or scene; or for the dissemination of deliberately false information or willfull misrepresentation, to the detriment of the public interest; or to incite, encourage, or assist in subversive or treasonable acts.
Section 5. Right of Government. A special right is hereby reserved to the President of the Philippines, in times of war, rebellion, public peril, calamity, emergency, disaster or disturbance of peace and order: to temporarily take over and operate the stations or facilities of the grantee; to temporarily suspend the operation of any station or facility in the interest of public safety, security and public welfare; or to authorize the temporary use and operation thereof by any agency of the government, upon due compensation to the grantee, for the use of said stations or facilities during the period when these shall be so operated.
The radio spectrum is a finite resource that is part of the national partimony and the use thereof is a privilege confered upon the grantee by the State and may be withdrawn anytime after due process.
Section 6. Term of Franchise. This franchise shall be in effect for a period of twenty-five (25) years, beginning on November 3, 2018, unless sooner cancelled. This franchise shall be deemed ipso facto revoked in the event the grantee fails to operate continuously for two (2) years.
Section 7. Acceptance and Compliance. Acceptance of this franchise shall be given in writing to the Congress of the Philippines, through the Committee on Legislative Franchises of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Public Services of the Senate, within sixty (60) days from the effectivity to this Act. Upon giving such acceptance, the grantee shall exercise the privileges granted under this Act. Nonacceptance shall render the franchise void.ℒαwρhi৷
Section 8. Self-regulation by and Undertaking of the Grantee. The grantee shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play, act or scene, or other matter to be broadcast from its station: Provided, That the grantee, during any broadcast, shall cut off from the air the speech, play, act or scene, 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: Provided, further, That willfull failure to do so shall constitute a valid cause for the cancellation of this franchise.
Section 9. Warranty in Favor of the National and Local Governments. The grantee shall hold the national, provincial, city and municipal governments of the Philippines free 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 10. Sale, Lease, Transfer, Usufruct, or Assignment of Franchise. 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 corporation or entity, nor shall the controlling interest of the grantee be transferred, whether as a whole or in parts, and whether simultaneously or contemporaneously, to any such person, firm, company, corpation or entity without the prior approval of the Congress of the Philippines: Provided, That Congress shall be informed of any lease, transfer, granting the usufruct of, sale or assignment of franchise or the rights and privileges acquired thereunder within sixty (60) days after the completion of said transaction: Provided, further, That failure to report to Congress such change of ownership shall render the franchise ipso facto revoked: Provided, finally, That any person or entity to which this franchise is sold, transferred, or assigned, shall be subject to the same conditions, terms, restrictions and limitations of this Act.
Section 11. Dispersal of Ownership. In accordance with the Constitutional provision to encourage public participation in public utilites, the grantee shall offer to Filippine citizens at least ten percent (10%) of its outstanding capital stock or a higher percentahe that may hereafter be provided by law in any securities exchange in the Philippines within five (5) years from the time it has achieved the status of a national broadcasting network. A national broadcasting network is hereby defined as one that operates at least three (3) radio/television stations. Noncompliance therewith shall render the franchise ipso facto revoked.
Section 12. General Broadcast Policy Law. The grantee shall comply with and be subject to the provisions of a general broadcast policy kaw which Congress may hereafter enact.
Section 13. Parity Clause. Any advantage, favor, privilege, exemption, or immunity granted under existing franchise, or which may hereafter be granted for radio and/or televesion broadcasting, upon prior review and approval of Congress, shall become part of this franchise and shall be accorded immediately and unconditionally to the herein grantee: Provided, That the foregoing shall neither apply to nor affect the provisions of broadcasting franchises concerning territory covered by the franchise, the life span of the franchise or the type of service authorized by the franchise: Provided, further, That the foregoing shall not apply to sale, lease, transfer, grant of usufruct, or assignment of legislative franchise with prior Congressional approval.
Section 14. Reportorial Requirement. The grantee shall submit an annual report the Congress of the Philippines, through the Committee on Legislative Franchise of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Public Services of the Senate, on its compliance with the terms and conditions of the franchise and on its operations on or before April 30 of the succeeding year. The reportorial compliance certificate issued by Congress shall be required before any application for permit or certificate is accepted by the NTC.
Section 15. Penalty Clause. Any grantee who fails to submit the annual report to Congress will be fined five hundred pesos (P500.00) per working day of noncompliance. Said fine shall be collected by the NTC from said delinquent franchise grantee separate from the reportorial penalties imposed by the NTC. The collected funds shall accrue to the monitoring fund of the NTC in line with its supervisory and regulatory functions.
Section 16. Separability Clause. If any of the sections or provisiongs of this Act is held invalid, all other provisions not affected thereby shall remain valid.
Section 17. Repealability and Nonexclusivity Clause. This franchise 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 18. Publication. This Act shall published, through the initiative of the grantee, fifteen (15) days after it has been signed by the President of the Philippines or after it has lapsed into law.
Section 19. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
Approved,
(Sgd.) FRANKLIN M. DRILON
President of the Senate |
(Sgd.) FELICIANO BELMONTE JR.
Speaker of the House of Representatives |
This Act which originated in the House of Representative was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on January 26, 2015 and December 7, 2015, respectively.
(Sgd.) OSCAR G. YABES
Secretary of the Senate |
(Sgd.) MARILYN B. BARUA-YAP
Secretary General
House of Representatives |
Approved: MAY 03 2016
(Sgd.) BENIGNO S. AQUINO III
President of the Philippines
The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation
