REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7633 - AN ACT
AMENDING CERTAIN SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 3259, AS AMENDED,
ENTITLED "AN ACT GRANTING THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
A FRANCHISE TO ESTABLISH RADIO STATIONS, FOR DOMESTIC
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, RADIOPHONE," EXTENDING THE TERM OF THE FRANCHISE BY
TWENTY-FIVE (25) YEARS FROM AUGUST 9, 1996 AS PROVIDED IN REPUBLIC ACT
NO. 4905, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Section 1. Section One of Republic Act No. 3259 is hereby
amended to read as follows:
"Section 1. Subject to the provisions of the
Constitution and the provisions of laws, orders or issuances not
inconsistent herewith, the International Communications Corporation,
its successors or assigns, hereunder referred to as the grantee, is
hereby granted the right, privilege and authority to construct,
maintain and operate stations for telecommunications systems including
radio, telegraph, telephone, facsimile, data, voice, audio and video
services, lines, circuits, satellites and/or stations, wire and/or
wireless for international and domestic public communications, with
authority to receive and transmit information, messages, impressions,
pictures, music, entertainment and advertising signals, throughout the
Philippines and foreign countries, including ships at sea, airplanes
and other conveyances, by means of electricity, electromagnetic waves,
optics or any other kind of energy, force, variations or impulses,
radiated through space or transmitted through any other medium."
Sec. 2. Section Four of Republic Act No. 3259, as
amended by Republic Act No. 4905, is hereby further amended to read as
follows:
"Sec. 4. The franchise of the grantee, as herein
amended, is hereby extended by twenty-five (25) years from the
expiration thereof on August 9, 1996."
Sec. 3. The grantee shall not begin any
construction nor exercise any right or privilege under this franchise
without first obtaining a certificate of public convenience and
necessity from the National Telecommunications Commission or its legal
successor of the form and character provided for under existing laws.
The National Telecommunications Commission or its legal successor shall
have the power to issue such certificate of public convenience and
necessity whenever it shall, after due hearing, determine that such
construction or such exercise of the right, privilege or franchise is
necessary and proper for the public convenience, and the Commission
shall have the power in so approving to impose such conditions as to
construction, equipment, maintenance service or operation as the public
convenience and interest may reasonably require.
Sec. 4. The rates for the telecommunications
services that the grantee shall offer to the public shall subject to
the approval of the National Telecommunications Commission or its legal
successor.
Sec. 5. In compliance which the constitutional
mandate to democratize ownership of public utilities, the herein
grantee shall make public utilities offering to the stock exchanges at
least thirty percent (30%) of its common stock within a period of three
(3) years from the date of effectivity of this Act: provided, that no
single person or entity shall be allowed to own more than five percent
(5%) of the stock.
Sec. 6. The grantee shall secure from the
National Telecommunications Commission the appropriate permits and
licenses for its stations and shall not use any frequency in the radio
spectrum without having been authorized by the Commission. The stations
of the grantee shall be constructed and operated in a manner as will at
most result only in the minimum interference on the wavelengths or
frequencies of the existing stations or other stations which may be
established in accordance with law of other telecommunications services
grantees without in any way diminishing its own right to use its
selected wavelengths or frequencies and the quality of transmission or
reception thereon as should maximize rendition of the grantee's
services and/or availability thereof.
Sec. 7. All telecommunications lines and systems
for telecommunications services owned, maintained, operated or managed
by the grantee, its successors or assigns shall be operated and
maintained at all times in a satisfactory manner, and it shall be the
further duty of said grantee, its successors or assigns whenever
required to do so by the National Telecommunications Commission or its
legal successors to modify, improve and change such telecommunications
system in such manner and to such extent as the progress of science and
improvements in the telecommunications services may make reasonable and
proper.
Sec. 8. The grantee shall hold the national,
provincial, city and municipal governments of the Philippines harmless
from all claims, accounts, demands or actions arising out of accidents
or injuries, whether to property or persons, caused by the construction
or operation of the stations of the grantee.
Sec. 9. The President of the Philippines, in
times of war, rebellion, public peril, calamity, emergency, disaster or
disturbance of peace and order, may take over and operate the
transmitting, receiving and switching stations or authorize the
temporary use and operation thereof by any department of the
Government; upon due compensation to the grantee, for the use of said
stations during the period when they shall be so operated.
SECTION 10. The grantee shall keep an account of the
gross receipts of its business and shall furnish the Commissioner on
Audit and the Treasurer of the Philippines with a copy of such accounts
not later than the thirty-first day of January of each year for the
preceding year. All the books and accounts of the grantee pertaining to
its business shall be subject to the official inspection of the
Commission on Audit or its authorized representatives, and the audit
and approval of such accounts shall be final and conclusive evidence as
to the amount of said gross receipts, except that the grantee shall
have the right to appeal and to the courts under the terms and
conditions provided in the laws of the Philippines.
SECTION 11. The grantee, its successors or assigns
shall be liable to pay the same taxes on their 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. In
addition thereto, the grantee, its successors or assigns shall pay a
franchise tax equivalent to three percent (3%) of all gross receipts of
the telephone or other telecommunications businesses 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 earnings
thereof: provided, that the grantee, its successors or assigns shall
continue to be liable for income taxes payable under Title II of the
National Internal Revenue Code pursuant to Sec. 2 of Executive Order
No. 72 unless the latter enactment is amended or repealed, in which
case the amendment or repeal shall be applicable thereto.
The grantee shall file the return with and pay the tax due thereon to
the Commissioner of Internal Revenue or his duly authorized
representative in accordance with the National Internal Revenue Code
and the return shall be subject to audit by the Bureau of Internal
Revenue.
The grantee shall submit a detailed annual report to the Congress of
the Philippines with respect to its program, operations, accounts, and
payment of taxes and compliance with the terms and conditions of its
franchise.
SECTION 12. The National Telecommunications
Commission shall have the power, after due notice and hearing, to
direct, authorize or order another holder of a certificate of public
convenience and necessity or any qualified person or entity to
temporarily operate and maintain the grantee's telecommunications
services whenever the grantee's certificate is revoked or suspended by
the Commission or in case the authorized temporary operator willfully
discontinued or abandons his operations thereby causing irreparable
damage and serious inconvenience to the public: provided, that the
Commission shall, in a formal order, prescribe the terms and conditions
of the temporary operator and the restoration to the grantee of said
telecommunications service: provided, further, that in no case shall
such order be construed as a grant of a certificate of public
convenience and necessity.
SECTION 13. The National Telecommunications
Commission is hereby authorized, after due notice and hearing, to order
the grantee to allow interconnection of its facilities with other duly
authorized telecommunications operator under such terms and conditions
as the Commission may deem proper and reasonable in the interest of
public good.
SECTION 14. The grantee shall operate and maintain
all its stations, lines, cables, systems and equipment for the
transmission and reception of messages, signals and pulses in a
satisfactory manner at all times and, whenever required by the National
Telecommunications Commission in the interest of the public good and as
far as practicable, modify, improve or change such stations, lines,
cables, systems and equipment to keep abreast with the advancements in
science and technology.
SECTION 15. The grantee, its successors or assigns
shall be subject to the corporation laws of the Philippines now
existing or hereafter enacted.
SECTION 16. The grantee shall not lease, transfer,
grant the usufruct of, sell or assign this franchise, or the rights and
privileges acquired thereunder to any person, firm, company,
partnership, corporation or other commercial or legal entity, nor merge
with any other person, firm, company, partnership or corporation
organized for the same purpose except where the grantee is the
surviving corporation without the prior approval of the Congress of the
Philippines.
Any corporation to which this franchise may be sold, transferred or
assigned shall be subject to the corporation laws of the Philippines
now existing or hereafter enacted, and any person, firm, company,
partnership, corporation or other commercial or legal entity 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, partnership,
corporation or other commercial or legal entity.
SECTION 17. This franchise shall not be interpreted
to mean as an exclusive grant of the privileges herein provided for.
SECTION 18. Within sixty (60) days after effectivity
of this Act, the grantee shall file with the National
Telecommunications Commission its written acceptance of this Act and
all the terms and conditions hereof and, in default of such acceptance,
within the time so limited, this Act shall become null and void.
SECTION 19. The grantee shall comply with and be
subject to the provisions of a general telecommunications policy law
that may hereafter be enacted.
Sec. 20. All the other provisions, terms and
conditions contained in Republic Act No. 3259 which are inconsistent
herewith are hereby repealed.
Sec. 21. This franchise is granted with the
understanding and upon the condition that it shall be subject to
amendment, alteration or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when
the common good so requires.
Sec. 22. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15)
days from the date of its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of
general circulation in the Philippines.
Approved: July 20, 1992
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