Section 1. Main object and general enabling provisions. —
This Act to be known as the "Radio Broadcasting Law", which shall have
for its main object the extension of the benefits of radio broadcasting
so as to make them, as far as it is practicable to do so, equally
available to the people throughout the Philippine, Islands, shall be
administered by the Secretary of Commerce and Communications, who, in
order to carry out in the most effective manner its provisions and
purposes, is hereby empowered to promulgate in the form of
administrative orders such rules and regulations as may be advisable,
and to create such committee or committees as may be necessary, and,
with the permission of the respective Department Heads; concerned, to
use the services of such officers or employees of the Insular,
provincial and municipal governments as may be convenient especially in
the collection of fees.
Sec. 2. Exemption of the Governments of the United
States and the Philippine Islands. — The Government of the United
States shall be exempt from all requirements of this Act. The
Government of the Philippine Islands shall be exempt likewise for all
radio receiving sets owned or operated by it for communication
purposes: Provided, however, That dealers or persons selling receivers
to the said governments shall comply with the provisions of section
three of this Act and the regulations which may be issued thereunder by
the Secretary of Commerce and Communications as regards submission of
reports on sale of receiving sets.
Sec. 3. Registration of radio receiving sets;
notice of sale or change in ownership or location of each set. — The
Secretary of Commerce and Communications shall prescribe rules and
regulations for the registration of radio receiving sets and for the
submission of reports on sale of receivers or on change of ownership
thereof. He may require that all receiving sets be registered annually
if he deems it advisable in addition to the owners' obligation to pay
the annual fees as provided in section four. Subject to such rules and
regulations, every person, firm, company, association, corporation or
any other entity having in his or in its possession or control a radio
receiving set, shall register the same with the Radio Regulation Office
created or designated under section eight of Act Numbered Thirty-eight
hundred and forty-six within thirty days after coming into possession
or control of such set, and it shall be the duty of the owner thereof
to advise the Radio Regulation Office of any change in his or its
address within thirty days after such change takes place. And whenever
any radio receiving set is sold, or any change in ownership takes
place, the dealer or former owner thereof shall comply with the
regulations issued by the Secretary of Commerce and Communications
under the provisions of this section.
Sec. 4. Annual fees to be paid. — Except as
otherwise provided in section six hereof, there shall be paid and
collected a registration fee of two pesos per annum for every crystal
receiving set and ten pesos per annum for every receiving set that uses
a vacuum tube or tubes for amplification or for detection: Provided
however, That if the Secretary of Commerce and Communications shall
deem it advisable he may establish zones and fix a graduated scale of
zone fees, the maximum of which shall not exceed the fees herein-above
above specified: Provided, further, That the Secretary of Commerce and
Communications may establish rules and regulations for the reduction of
fees payable by the same owner for the same set after one year's fee
has been paid.
The "annual fees" above specified shall be understood to be for a
period of twelve months counting from the date of acquisition of a
radio receiver, and, wherever quarterly, semi-annual or annual fees are
specified in this Act, the same shall be understood to be for a period
of three months, six months and twelve months, respectively, counting
from the date of acquisition of the radio set.
Sec. 5. When to pay fees; surcharge to be paid for
late payment. — Upon the initial registration of a radio receiving set,
as provided in section three hereof, the fee for at least three months
shall be paid in advance. Thereafter, fees shall be payable in not less
than quarterly installments, each of which shall be paid in advance
during the first thirty days of the quarter in which such fees are due.
Any fee not paid within the time fixed shall be increased by a
surcharge of twenty per centum thereof: Provided, however, That the
Secretary of Commerce and Communications may prescribe rules and
regulations changing the time of payment of fees from quarterly to
semi-annually or annually: Provided, further, That he may also
prescribe such rules and regulations as may be advisable to assure the
prompt or immediate registration and advance payment or collection of
fees on receiving sets sold by dealers and on sets entering the country
through the mails or the custom-house and those brought by persons
coming from abroad, notwithstanding the provisions of section three of
this Act regarding thirty days tune allowed for registration.
Sec. 6. Receiving sets for specified uses to be
registered but exempt from payment of fees. — Subject to such rules and
regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and
Communications, owners of receiving sets covered by this section shall
comply with the requirements of section three of this Act as regards
registration but shall be exempt from payment of the fees as required
by section four:
(a) Sets in
storage or out of service;
(b) Sets kept for sale or used for demonstration by
those engaged in the manufacture or sale of radio apparatus;
(c) Sets owned or operated by the Philippine
Government and used for purposes other than communications;
(d) Sets installed on airplanes and ships licensed
under Act Numbered Thirty-eight hundred and
forty-six;
(e) Sets operated by owners of broadcasting stations
if such sets are used for the purpose of monitoring or checking the
quality or efficiency of the broadcasting stations;
(f) Sets owned and operated by lighthouse-keepers at
their official stations;
(g) In cases where an amateur radio operator, who is
licensed under Act Numbered Thirty-eight hundred and forty-six, or the
owner of a licensed amateur radio station has more than one receiver in
his immediate household, all such receivers shall be registered but the
fee need be paid on one receiver only.
Sec. 7. National Radio Broadcasting Fund and
purposes for which it may be used. — All collections made under this
Act, as well as those which may be collected under section nine hereof,
shall constitute a special fund to be known as the "National Radio
Broadcasting Fund" to be expended, with the concurrence of the Insular
Auditor, exclusively for the following purposes by authority of the
Secretary of Commerce and Communications, who shall determine what
portion of this fund shall be expended for each item subject to the
limitations hereinbelow stated:
(a) Receiving
sets for municipalities, barrios, etc.
— Purchase, installation and/or operation of radio receiving sets for
general public benefit in distant and isolated municipalities,
municipal districts, barrios and selected Government institutions,
under such rules and conditions as the Secretary of Commerce and
Communications may prescribe.
(b) Payment to broadcasting stations for broadcasting
matters of interest to people. — Payment to the owners of any duly
authorized radio broadcasting station or stations of sufficient power
and with satisfactory facilities and apparatus to render reasonably
satisfactory service, under normal conditions, throughout the
Philippine Islands, for the radio broadcasting of a minimum of six
hours daily of governmental news, information and education, and/or any
other information or programs of interest or entertainment to the
people if the type and general character of the programs broadcasted
are deemed to be of general interest or entertainment to the public by
a committee created for the purpose by the Secretary of Commerce and
Communications: Provided, That the sum authorized for any station shall
not exceed the actual value of the services rendered in accordance with
this subsection: Provided, further, That if, for any fortuitous cause
or force majeure or other unavoidable reason, a minimum of six hours
broadcasting shall not be made in any one day, such failure shall not
be considered as a violation of this section.
(c) Administrative expenses. — Employment of such
personnel and payment of such expenses as may be necessary in carrying
out the provisions of this Act and the rules and regulations prescribed
thereunder. The Secretary of Commerce and Communications may authorize
the payment to each member of any committee or committees created by
him under section one of this Act a per diem of not to exceed ten pesos
for each meeting attended: Provided, That no committee member shall be
entitled to receive more than twenty pesos in any one month for
meetings attended during the month.
(d) Promotion and development of or assistance to
radio broadcasting. — Any unexpended balance of the "National Radio
Broadcasting Fund" in any year shall be available exclusively for the
purposes stated in this section for any succeeding year and for the
promotion and development of radio broadcasting in the Philippine
Islands and, if necessary or advisable for general public interest, for
aid to radio broadcasting stations.
Sec. 8. Annual report to Legislature. — During the
first thirty days of each regular session of the Philippine
Legislature, the Secretary of Commerce and Communications shall submit
a full report thereto on the work accomplished by his Department under
this Act, such report to be accompanied with a detailed statement of
all receipts and disbursements and with such recommendations as he may
desire to bring to the attention of the Legislature.
Sec. 9. Repeal of Act Numbered Thirty-three
hundred and thirty-eight. — Act Numbered Thirty-three hundred and
thirty-eight, approved December seven, nineteen hundred and twenty-six,
is hereby repealed: Provided, That all registration made and all fees
paid thereunder shall apply under this Act for the period covered:
Provided, further, That such repeal shall not affect any act done, or
any right accrued, or any suit or proceedings had or commenced in any
criminal or civil cause, prior to said repeal: Provided, furthermore,
That all surcharges and all unpaid fees due and payable under Act
Numbered Thirty-three hundred and thirty-eight, as well as all fines
that may be assessed thereunder, shall, when collected, be credited as
provided for in section seven of this Act: Provided, still furthermore,
That any unexpended balance of the Radio Broadcasting Fund accumulated
under section twelve (d) of Act Numbered Thirty-three hundred and
thirty-eight shall be and hereby is made available as part of the
"National Radio Broadcasting Fund" under this Act: Provided, finally,
That no provision of this Act shall be construed as vesting any person,
firm or corporation with any right which cannot be made the subject of
further legislation by the Philippine Legislature.
Sec. 10. Penalty for violations of this Act. — Any
person who shall willfully violate any mandatory or prohibitory
provision of this Act, or any mandatory or prohibitory provision of the
regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and Communications
under this Act, upon conviction thereof by a court of competent
jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five
pesos no more than two hundred pesos for each and every offense. And
any firm, company, corporation or association willfully failing
or refusing to observe or willfully violating any provision of
this Act, or any provision of the regulations prescribed by the
Secretary of Commerce and Communications under this Act, shall be
punished by a fine of not less than one hundred pesos nor more than one
thousand pesos for each and every offense.
Sec. 11. This Act shall take effect on January
first, nineteen hundred and thirty-three.
Approved: December 5, 1932.
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