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H. No. 15942 / 65 OG No. 24, 6119 (June 16, 1969)

[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5343, June 15, 1968 ]

AN ACT GRANTING THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT RADIO CORPORATION A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE RADIO BROADCASTING STATIONS WITH SIDE BAND IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEZON AND IN EASTERN LUZON PROVINCES, PHILIPPINES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of  the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, as well as 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, the Community Development Radio Corporation is hereby granted a franchise to construct, maintain and operate radio broadcasting stations with side band in the Province of Quezon and in eastern Luzon provinces, Philippines.  The grantee shall have the right to establish relay stations and  private  point-to-point  communication systems at  such places in the Philippines as it may consider necessary and convenient.

SEC. 2.  This franchise shall continue for a period of twenty-five  years from the date the said stations shall be put in operation, and is granted upon the express condition  that the same shall be void unless the construction stations be begun within six months from the  date of approval of this Act and be completed within two years from  said date.

SEC 3. This franchise is likewise made upon, the express condition that the grantee shall contribute to the welfare; shall assist in the function of public information and education; shall conform to the ethics of honest enterprise; and shall not use its stations 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. 4. The grantee's radio broadcasting stations shall not be put in actual operation until the Secretary of Pulic Works and Communications shall have allotted to the grantee the frequency and wave length to be used under this franchise and issued to the grantee a license for such use.

SEC. 5. A special right is hereby reserved to the Pres­ident  of  the  Philippines   in   time   of  war,   insurrection, public peril or other national emergency and when public safety requires, to cause the closing of the grantee's radio stations or to authorize the use or possession thereof by any department of the Government without compensation to the grantee for the use of said stations during the continuance of the national emergency.

SEC. 6. The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes unless exempted therefrom, on its real estate, buildings, personal property, exclusive of the franchise, as other persons or corporations are now or hereafter may be required  by law to pay.

The grantee shall further be liable to pay all other taxes under the National Internal Revenue Code by reason of  this franchise.

SEC. 7. The grantee shall hold the national, provincial and municipal governments of the Philippines 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. 8.  The franchise hereby granted shall be subject to amendment,  alteration or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so requires.

SEC. 9.  As a condition to the granting of this franchise, the grantee shall execute a bond in favor of the Government of  the Philippine 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 three years from the date of acceptance of this franchise, the grantee shall have fulfilled said obligations, or as soon thereafter as the grantee shall have fulfilled  the same, the bond aforesaid shall be cancelled by the Secretary of  Public  Works  and  Communications.

SEC. 10. 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 the approval of the bond aforesaid by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, the grantee shall be empowered to  exercise the privileges  granted  thereby.

SEC. 11. The grantee shall not lease, transfer, grant the usufruct of, sell or 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 person, company or corporation, organized for the same purpose, without the previous approval of  the Congress of the Philippines.  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 had been originally granted to the said person, firm, company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity.

SEC. 12.  The grantee shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play or other matter to be broadcast from its stations, but if any such speech, play or other matter shall 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 or other matter:  Provided, That the grantee, during any broadcast, shall cut off from the air the speech, play or other matter being broadcast, if the tendency thereof is to propose and/or incite treason 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.

SEC. 13. This franchise shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.

SEC. 14.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted without Executive approval, June 15, 1968.