PHILIPPINE LAWS, STATUTES, CODES & ISSUANCES
PHILIPPINE LAWS, STATUTES AND CODES - CHAN ROBLES VIRTUAL LAW LIBRARY
REPUBLIC ACTS
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REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6097 - AN
ACT GRANTING ENRIQUE M. REYES A FRANCHISE TO INSTALL, MAINTAIN AND
OPERATE A TELEPHONE SYSTEM IN THE PROVINCE OF DAVAO DEL SUR
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| Section
1.
Subject to the conditions established in this Act and the provisions of
Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred forty-six, as amended, and of the
Constitution, applicable thereto, there is hereby granted to Enrique M.
Reyes, hereinafter called the grantee, his successors or assigns, for a
period of twenty-five years from the approval of this Act, the right,
privilege an authority to construct, maintain and operate a telephone
system in the Municipality of Digos; and in and between the
municipalities of the Province of Davao del Sur. The grantee is
authorized to carry on the business of electrical transmission of
messages, conversations, impressions and signals in and between the
municipalities of the said province, and for this purpose of operating
said telephone systems and transmitting messages and signals by means
of electricity, to construct, maintain, and operate and use all
apparatus, conduits, appliances, receivers, transmitters, antennas, and
equipment necessary for the electrical transmission of messages,
conversations and signals, and to erect poles, structures, string
wires, build conduits, lay cables and to construct, maintain and use
such other approved and generally accepted means of electrical
conduction in, on, over or under the public roads, government
right-of-ways, highways, lands, bridges, rivers, waters, streets,
lanes, and sidewalks of said province and overhead or underground lines
or on the surface of the ground as may be necessary and best adapted to
said transmission. Sec. 2. All poles erected and all conduits constructed or used by the grantee shall be located in places designated by the grantee with the approval of the provincial board of the Province of Davao del Sur: provided, that all poles erected and used by the grantee or its successors or assigns shall be of such appearance as not to disfigure the streets, wires and cables carried by said poles and the underground cables shall be strung and laid in accordance with professional standards approved by the Public Service Commission and said poles shall be of such height as to maintain the wires and cables stretched on the same at a height of at least fifteen feet above the level of the ground, and said wires and cables shall be so placed as not to imperil the public safety, in accordance with a plan approved by the Public Service Commission: provided, further, that whenever twenty-five or more pairs of wires or other conductors are carried on one line of poles in any place of the poblacion of the province, said wires or conductors shall be placed in one cable, and whenever more than eight hundred pairs of wires or other conductors are carried on one line of poles, said wires or conductors shall be placed underground by the grantee, its successors or assigns, whenever ordered to do so by the Public Service Commission. Sec. 3. For the purpose of erecting and placing the poles or other supports of such wires or other conductors, or of laying and maintaining underground said wires, cables or other conductors, it shall be lawful for the grantee, its successors or assigns, to make excavations or lay conduits in any of the public places, highways, streets, alleys, lanes, avenues, sidewalks or bridges in the Province of Davao del Sur: provided, however, that any public place, highway, street, alley, avenue, sidewalk, or bridge disturbed, altered or changed by reason of the erection of poles or other supports, or the laying underground of wires or other conductors, or of conduits, shall be repaired and restored to the satisfaction of the engineer of the province, removing from the same all rubbish, dirt, refuse, or other materials which may have been placed there or taken up on the erection of said poles or the laying of said underground conduits, leaving them in a good condition as they were before the work was done. Sec. 4. Whenever any person has obtained permission to use any of the streets of the municipality concerned for the purpose of removing any building or in the prosecution of any municipal work or for any other cause whatsoever, making it necessary to raise or remove any of said wires or conduits which may obstruct or hinder the prosecution of said work, the said grantee, upon notice duly served upon said grantee at least forty-eight hours in advance, shall raise or remove any of said wires or conduits which may hinder the prosecution of such work or obstruct the removal of said building, so as to allow the free and unobstructed prosecution of said work, and the person or entity at whose request the wires or poles or other structures have been removed, shall pay one-half of the actual cost of replacing the poles or raising the wires and other conductors or structures. The notice shall be in the form of a resolution duly adopted by the municipal council of the municipality concerned served upon the grantee or its duly authorized representatives or agents by a person competent to testify as witness in a civil action, and in case of refusal or failure of the grantee to comply with such notice, the municipal mayor with the proper approval of the provincial board of the province first had, as the case may be, shall order such wires or conduits to be raised or removed at the expense of the grantee, for the purpose aforesaid. Sec. 5. All apparatus and appurtenances used by the grantee, its successors or assigns, shall be modern and first class in every respect, and all telephone lines or installations used, maintained and operated in connection with this franchise by the grantee, its successors or assigns, shall be kept and maintained at all times in a satisfactory manner, so as to render an efficient and adequate telephone service, and it shall be the further duty of said grantee, its successors or assigns, whenever required to do so by the Public Service Commission, to modify, improve and change such telephone system for the electrical transmission of conversations and signals by means of electricity in such manner and to such extent as the progress of science and the improvements in the method of electrical transmission of conversations, messages and signals by means of electricity may make reasonable and proper. Sec. 6. The grantee, his successors or assigns, shall keep a separate account of the gross receipts of its telephone business, and shall furnish the Auditor General and the Treasurer of the Philippines a copy of such accounts not later than the thirty-first day of July of each year for the twelve months preceding the first day of July. Sec. 7. The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes unless exempted therefrom, on his business, 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. Sec. 8. The granting of this franchise takes cognizance of the fact that on its date of issuance the grantee is providing telephone service under the authority of a Certificate of Convenience and Public Necessity issued by the Public Service Commission of the Philippines in the Municipality of Digos, Province of Davao del Sur. Sec. 9. The grantee shall not commence any construction whatsoever, pursuant to this franchise without first obtaining a Certificate of Convenience and Public Necessity from the Public Service Commission of the form and character provided for in Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended, specifically authorizing such construction. The grantee shall not exercise any right or privilege under this franchise without first having obtained such Certificate of Convenience and Public Necessity from the Public Service Commission. The Public Service Commission shall have the power to issue such Certificate of Convenience and Public Necessity whenever it shall, after due hearing, determine that such construction or such exercise of the rights and privileges under this franchise is necessary and proper for the public convenience, and the Commission shall have the power in issuing such certificate to impose such conditions as to construction, equipment, maintenance, service or operation as the public convenience and interest may reasonably require, and such certificate shall state the date in which the grantee shall commence construction and the period within which work shall be completed.n order to avail itself of the rights granted by such Certificate of Convenience and Public Necessity, the grantee shall file with the Public Service Commission, within such period as said Commission shall fix, its written acceptance of the terms and conditions of this franchise and of the certificate, together with the document evidencing the deposit required in Section ten has been made.n the event that the grantee shall not commence the telephone service referred to in the certificate obtained and filed as herein provided within such period as the Public Service Commission shall have fixed, said Commission may declare said certificate null and void and the deposit made pursuant to Section ten of this Act forfeited to the National Government unless the grantee shall have been prevented from doing so by fortuitous cause or force majeure, usurpation by military power, martial law, riot, uprising or other inevitable cause: provided, however, that if the grantee shall have been prevented by any of said causes from commencing the telephone service within the period specified, the time during which it shall have been so prevented shall be added to said period: provided, further, that failure on the part of the grantee to accept conditions of this franchise and imposed in the certificate of convenience and public necessity shall automatically void this franchise. SECTION 10. The grantee shall be required by the Public Service Commission for each Certificate of Convenience and Public Necessity obtained by him subsequent to the date of this Act, to make within such period as the said Commission shall fix, a deposit of not less than five thousand pesos, Philippine currency, or negotiable bonds of the Government of the Philippines, or other securities approved by the Public Service Commission, of the par value of not less than five thousand pesos, Philippine Currency, in the National Treasury as a guaranty of good faith that the grantee, within the period also specified by the Public Service Commission, shall commence and terminate the necessary work and shall be provided with all the equipment necessary to commence furnishing telephone service in the corresponding municipality. The Public Service Commission shall order the return of the deposit hereby required to the grantee upon the termination of the work for the furnishing telephone service in accordance with the terms and conditions of the certificate obtained, and the Treasurer of the Philippines shall return said deposit immediately upon presentation to him of a certified copy of the order of the Public Service Commission. SECTION 11. The books and accounts of the grantee, his successors or assigns, shall always be open for inspection of the Auditor of the province or his authorized representatives, and it shall be the duty of the grantee to submit to the Auditor General quarterly reports in duplicate showing the gross receipts for the quarter past and the general condition of the business. SECTION 12. The rights herein granted shall not be exclusive and the right and power to grant any corporation, association or person other than the grantee a franchise for telephone or electrical transmission of conversations, messages or signals shall not be impaired or affected by the granting of this franchise: provided, that the poles erected, wires strung or cables or conduits laid by virtue of any franchise for telephone, or other electrical transmission of messages, conversations and signals granted subsequent to this franchise shall be so placed so as not to impair the efficient and effective transmission of conversations, messages or signals under this franchise by means of poles erected, wires strung, or cables or conduits actually laid and in existence at the time of the granting of said subsequent franchise: and provided, further, that the Public Service Commission, after hearing both parties interested, may compel the grantee of this franchise, or his successors or assigns, to remove, relocate, or replace its poles, wires or conduits; but in such case the reasonable costs of the removal, relocation, or replacement, shall be paid by the grantee of the subsequent franchise or his successors or assigns to the grantee of this franchise or his successors or assigns. SECTION 13. The grantee, his successors or assigns, shall hold the national, provincial and municipal government harmless from all claims, accounts, demands, or action arising out of accidents or injuries, whether to property or to persons, caused by the construction or operation of the telephone or other electrical transmission system of the said grantee, his successors or assigns. SECTION 14. The rates for the telephone service, flat rates as well as measured rates, shall be subject to the approval of the Public Service Commission. The monthly rates for telephone service having a metallic circuit within the limits of the province shall also be approved by the Public Service Commission. SECTION 15. The grantee shall not, without the previous and explicit approval of the Congress of the Philippines directly or indirectly transfer, sell, or assign this franchise to any person, association, company, or corporation or other mercantile or legal entity. The telephone system of the grantee may however be managed by another entity or corporation if in the sound judgment of the grantee such would redound to the benefit of the public. SECTION 16. The grantee may install, maintain, operate, purchase or lease such telephone stations, lines, cables or system, as is, or are, convenient or essential to efficiently carry out the purpose of this franchise: provided, however, that the grantee, his successors or assigns, shall not without the permission of the Public Service Commission first had, install, maintain, operate, purchase or lease such stations, lines, cables or system. SECTION 17. The Philippine Government shall have the privilege, without compensation, of using the poles of the grantee to attach one ten-pin crossarm, and install, maintain and operate wires of its telephone system thereon: provided, however, that the Bureau of Telecommunications shall have the right to place additional crossarm and wires on the poles of the grantee by paying a compensation, the rate of which is to be agreed upon by the Director of Telecommunications and the grantee: provided, further, that in case of disagreement as to rates of contract rental, same shall be fixed by the Public Service Commission. The Province of Davao del Sur shall also have the privilege, without compensation, of using the poles of the grantee, to attach one standard crossarm and to install, maintain and operate, wires of local police and fire alarm system; but the wires of such telegraph lines, police or fire alarm system shall be placed and strung in such manner as to cause no interference with or damage to the wires of the telephone service of the grantee. SECTION 18. In consideration of this franchise the grantee shall pay a tax equivalent to five per cent of its gross income. SECTION 19. This Act shall take effect upon its approval. Enacted without Executive
approval, August 4, 1969. |
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