REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5731 - AN
ACT AMENDING THE TITLE AND CERTAIN SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED
THIRTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE, ENTITLED "AN ACT GRANTING THE MANILA
CHRONICLE A PERMIT TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE RADIO
BROADCASTING STATIONS AND STATIONS FOR TELEVISION IN THE PHILIPPINES"
Section 1. Section one of Republic Act Numbered Thirteen
hundred and forty-three is hereby amended to read as
follows:
"Section 1. Subject to the provisions of the
Constitution, the Chronicle Broadcasting Network is hereby granted a
franchise for a period of fifty years from the approval of this
Amendatory Act, to construct, maintain and operate, for commercial
purposes and in the public interest, radio broadcasting stations and
stations for television in the Philippines: Provided, That the grantee
shall provide adequate public service time to enable the Government,
through the said radio broadcasting stations and stations for
television, 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. Section three of the same Act is hereby
amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 3. The grantee shall file a bond in the amount
of fifty thousand pesos to guaranty for the full compliance and
fulfillment of the conditions under which this franchise is granted. If
after four years from the date of the approval of this Act, the grantee
shall have fulfilled said conditions, or as soon thereafter as the
grantee shall have fulfilled the same the bond aforesaid shall be
cancelled by the Government."
Sec. 3. Section four of the same Act is hereby
amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 4. In the event of any competing individual,
partnership or corporation receiving from the Congress a similar permit
or 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. 4. Section five of the same Act is hereby
amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 5. (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.
"(b) The grantee shall further be liable to pay all
other taxes as provided in the National Internal Revenue Code by reason
of this franchise."
Sec. 5. Section six of the same Act is hereby
amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 6. In the event of war, rebellion, insurrection
or similar national crisis when the Government shall find it necessary
to maintain and operate for itself any or all of the stations herein
authorized, the grantee shall turn over such station or stations to the
Government after payment of just and reasonable compensation for the
use thereof."
Sec. 6. Section eight of the same Act is hereby
amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 8. 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 approval of the Congress of the Philippines first had. 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 has been originally granted to the said
person, firm company, corporation or other commercial or legal
entity."
Sec. 7. The title of the same Act is hereby
amended to read as follows:
"An Act granting ABS-CBN the Chronicle Broadcasting Network a franchise
to construct, maintain and operate radio broadcasting stations and
stations for television in the Philippines."
Sec. 8. This Act shall take effect upon its
approval.
Enacted without Executive
approval, June 21, 1969.
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