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REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4760 - AN ACT
GRANTING SORSOGON TELEPHONE SYSTEM A FRANCHISE TO INSTALL, OPERATE AND
MAINTAIN A TELEPHONE SYSTEM IN THE PROVINCE OF SORSOGON Section 1. Subject to the conditions established in this Act and the provisions of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended, and of the Constitution, applicable thereto, there is hereby granted to Sorsogon Telephone System, hereinafter called the grantee, its successors or assigns, for a period of twenty-five years from the approval of this Act, the right and privilege to construct, maintain and operate in the Province of Sorsogon, hereinafter referred to as the province, a telephone system to carry on the business of the electrical transmission of conversations and signals in said province, with main station at the provincial capital. For this purpose, the grantee is hereby authorized to use all streets and public thoroughfares of the province for the construction, maintenance and operation of all apparatus, conductors, and appliances necessary for the electrical transmission of conversations and signals, to erect poles, 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, highways, lands, bridges, 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 adopted 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: provided, that all poles erected and used by the grantee or its successors or assigns shall be of such appearance as no to disfigure the streets, and the 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 said 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 Sorsogon: provided, however, that any public place 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 material which may have been placed there or taken upon in the erection of said poles or the laying of said underground conduits, leaving them in as 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 said province for the purpose of removing any building or in the prosecution of any provincial or 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 by the provincial board of the province 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 the allow the free and unobstructed passage of said building and 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 provincial board of the province served upon the grantee or his duly authorized representatives or agent 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 provincial governor 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 purposes aforesaid. Sec. 5. All apparatus and appurtenances used by the grantee, its successors or assigns, shall be modern and first class in very 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 improvements in the method of electrical transmission of conversations and signals by means of electricity may make reasonable and proper. Sec. 6. The grantee, its successors or assign, 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 account 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, its successors or assigns, shall be liable to pay the same taxes on its real estate, building, and personal property, exclusive of this franchise, as other persons or corporations are now paying or hereafter may be required by law to pay. In addition, the grantee, its successors or assigns, shall pay to the Treasurer of the Philippines each year, within ten days after the audit and approval of the accounts as prescribed in Section six of this Act, one per centum of all gross receipts of the telephone business transacted under this franchise by the grantee, its successors or assigns, and the said percentage shall be in lieu of all taxes on this franchise or its earnings. Sec. 8. Within sixty days from the approval of this Act, the grantee shall file with the Public Service Commission its application for a certificate of convenience and public necessity. In case of failure to make said application within the period established, this franchise shall become null and void. 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 hearing, determine that such
construction or such exercise of 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 to public convenience and interests may reasonably
require, and such certificate shall state the date on which the grantee
shall commence construction and the period within which the work shall
be completed. In 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 fact that the deposit required in Section ten
has been made. In 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, usurped or 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 he shall have been so prevented shall
be added to said period: provided, further, that failure on the part of
the grantee to accept the conditions of this franchise and those
imposed in the certificate of convenience and public necessity shall
automatically void this franchise. Sec. 20. This Act shall take effect upon its
approval. Approved: June 18, 1966 |
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