PHILIPPINE LAWS, STATUTES, CODES & ISSUANCES
PHILIPPINE LAWS, STATUTES AND CODES
REPUBLIC ACTS
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2375 - AN ACT
GRANTING THE FELIPE YSMAEL, JR. & CO., INC., A FRANCHISE TO
CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE RADIO BROADCASTING AND TELEVISION
STATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES |
Section 1.
Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the
Felipe Ysmael, Jr. & Co., Inc., is hereby granted a franchise to
construct, maintain and operate, for commercial purposes and in the
public interest, radio broadcasting and television stations in the
Philippines: Provided, That this franchise shall be void unless the
construction of at least one radio broadcasting station or one
television station be begun within two years from the date of approval
of this Act, and be completed within four years from said date:
Provided, further, That the grantee shall provide adequate public
service time to enable the Government, through the said radio
broadcasting and television stations, to reach the population on
important public issues; shall assist in the functions of public
information and education; shall conform to the ethics of honest
enterprise; and shall not use its stations for the broadcasting and/or
telecasting of obscene or indecent language, speech, act or scene, 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. Sec. 2. Such provisions of Act Numbered Thirty-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 Thirty-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, as are applicable to radio broadcasting stations, shall be applied, as far as practicable, to the television stations referred to in section one. Sec. 3. The grantee shall have the right to establish relay stations at such places in the Philippines as it may consider necessary and convenient, as well as the right to establish a closed circuit television.
Sec. 4. 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 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 four years from the date of
acceptance of this franchise, the grantee shall have fulfilled said
obligations, or as soon thereafter as the guarantee shall have
fulfilled the same, the bond aforesaid shall be cancelled by the
Secretary of Public Works and Communications. Sec. 6. 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 lengths to be used under this franchise and issued to the grantee a license for such use. Sec. 7. 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 a 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.
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. 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.
Section 10. The franchise hereby granted shall be
subject to amendment, alteration or repeal by the Congress of the
Philippines when the public interest so requires. Section 12. A special right is reserved to the President of the Philippines in time of war, rebellion, public peril, emergency, 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 upon due compensation to the grantee for the use of said stations during the period when they shall be so operated. Section 13. The grantee shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play, act or scene or other matter to be broadcast and/or telecast from its stations; but if any such speech, play, act or scene 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, act or scene or other matter: Provided, That the grantee, during any broadcast and/or telecast, shall cut off from ther the speech, play, act or scene or other matter being broadcast and/or telecast, if the tendency thereof is to propose and/or thereon 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 14. 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 previous approval of the Congress of the Philippines. Any corporation to which this franchise is sold, transferred or assigned, shall be subject to all the 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 15. Whenever in this franchise the term "grantee" is used, it shall be held and understood to mean Felipe Ysmael, Jr. & Co., Inc., its representatives, successors or assigns, unless the context indicates otherwise. Section 16. This franchise shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.
Section 17. This Act shall take effect upon its
approval. Approved: June 20, 1959 |