REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4792 AN ACT GRANTING ZOILO DEJARESCO, JR., A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE TELEVISION AND RADIO BROADCASTING STATIONS IN THE PROVINCE OF BOHOL. June 18, 1966

[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4792, June 18, 1966 ]

AN ACT GRANTING ZOILO DEJARESCO, JR., A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE TELEVISION AND RADIO BROADCASTING STATIONS IN THE PROVINCE OF BOHOL.

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, Zoilo Dejaresco, Jr. is hereby granted for a period of twenty-five years  a  franchise to  construct,  maintain and operate,   for commercial purposes and in the public interest, television and radio broadcasting stations in the Province of  Bohol: Provided, That this franchise shall be void  unless   the   construction   of   at  least  one  television station or one radio broadcasting station be begun within four years from the date of approval of this Act, and be completed  within   five  years  from said  date: Provided, further, That the grantee shall  provide adequate public service time to enable the Government, through the said television  and  radio  broadcasting 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 his stations  for the  broadcasting  and/or  telecasting  of  or indecent language, speech, act or scene, or for 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 station shall be applied, as far as practicable to the television stations referred to in Section one hereof.

SEC. 3. 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 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 grantee shall have fulfilled the same, the bond aforesaid shall be cancelled by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications.

SEC. 4. Acceptance in this franchise shall be given in writing within six months after the approval of this Act. When so accepted by the grantee and upon approval of the bond aforesaid by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, the grantee shall empowered to exercise the privileges granted thereby.

SEC. 5. The grantee’s radio broadcasting and televisions 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. 6. 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. 7.

1. (a) The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes on his real estate, buildings and personal property exclusive of this franchise, as other persons or corporations are now or hereafter may be required by law to pay.
   (b) The grantee shall further be liable to pay all other taxes that may be imposed by the National internal Revenue Code by reason of this franchise.

SEC. 8. The grantee shall hold the national, provincial and municipal governments of the Philippines harmless from all claims, accounts, demands, or actions arising out of accident or injuries, whether to property or to persons, caused by the construction or operation of the stations of the grantee.SEC. 9. 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. 10. In the event that the government should desire to maintain and operate for itself any or all of he stations herein authorized, the grantee shall turn over such station or stations to the Government with all the serviceable equipment therein, at cost, less reasonable depreciation.SEC. 11. 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 authorized the temporary use and operation thereof by any department of the Government upon due compensation to the grantee for he use of said stations during the period when they shall be so operated.SEC. 12. 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 his stations; but if any such speech, play, act or scene or other matter should constitute  a  violation  of the law or infringement of 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 the air the speech, play, act or scene or other matter being broadcast and/or telecast, 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, and willful failure to do so shall constitute a valid cause for the cancellation of this franchise.Sec. 13. 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 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 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.SEC. 14. Wherever in this franchise the term grantee is used, it shall be held and  understood to mean Zoilo Dejaresco, Jr., his representatives, successors or assign unless the context indicates otherwise.SEC. 15. This   franchise   shall   not   be   interpreted  as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.SEC. 16. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.Approved, June  18,   1966.