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A collection of Philippine laws, statutes and codes not included or cited in the main indices of the Chan Robles Virtual Law Library.
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ACT NO. 1658
ACT NO. 1658 - AN ACT TO PROVIDE
THE GRANTING OF A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, MAINTAIN, AND OPERATE
TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH SYSTEMS AND TO CARRY ON OTHER ELECTRICAL
TRANSMISSION BETWEEN THE PROVINCES, CITIES, AND MUNICIPALITIES OF THE
ISLAND OF LUZON
Section 1. There is hereby granted, for a period of fifty
years from and after the passage of this Act, upon the considerations
and conditions herein contained to William H. Allen and J. H. Brown,
and their successors or assigns, the right and privilege to construct,
maintain, and operate in the Island of Luzon, and in and between the
provinces, cities, and municipalities thereof, a telephone and
telegraph system, to carry on the business of transmitting messages and
signals by means of electricity to construct telephone and telegraph
lines in and between said provinces, cities and municipalities, to
construct, maintain, and operate and use all apparatus, conduits, and
appliances necessary for the electrical transmission of messages 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, alleys,
avenues, and sidewalks of said provinces cities, and municipalities as
may be necessary and best adapted to the transmission of messages and
signals by means of electricity; Provided, However, That all poles
erected and all conduits constructed or used by the grantees, their
successors or assigns, shall be located in the places designated by
provincial, city, or municipal authorities, as the case may be, and
poles shall be straight and smooth and erected and painted in a good,
substantial, and workmanlike manner to the satisfaction of such
authorities, but it shall not be obligatory on the grantees their
successors or assigns, to paint poles except in cities and centers of
population or municipalities: And Provided Further, That said poles
shall be of such a height and the wires or conductors strung or used by
said grantees shall be placed and safeguarded as to prevent danger to
life or property by reason of contact with electric light, power, or
street-railway wires or conductors: And Provided Further, That upon
reasonable notice and by resolution of the proper Insular, provincial,
city, or municipal authorities, the grantees, their successors or
assigns, may be required to relocate poles or remove or raise wires or
other conductors so as to permit the passage of buildings or other
structures from one place to another, one-half the actual cost of such
relocation of poles or raising or removal of wires or other conductors
to be paid by the person at whose instance the building or structure is
moved; and, at the expense of the grantees, their successors or
assigns, to relocate conduits, poles, and wires and to raise or remove
wires or other conductors, when the Insular, city, or any provincial or
municipal government declares that the public interest so requires:
Provided, However, That from any order or regulation of a provincial or
municipal government requiring the grantees, their successors or
assigns, to relocate conduits, poles, or wires, or to raise or remove
wires or other conductors, the said grantees, their successors or
assigns, shall have the right of appeal to the Governor-General, whose
decision in the matter shall be final and conclusive.
Should the grantees, their successors or assigns, fail, refuse or
neglect within a reasonable time to relocate their poles, conduits, or
wires or other conductors, or to raise their wires or other conductors
when so directed by the proper Insular, provincial, city or municipal
authorities, then said authorities may relocate said poles, conduits,
or wires or other conductors or raise said wires or other conductors at
the expense of the grantees, their successors or assigns: And Provided
Further, That the installation of all instruments, the inside wiring,
and all outside construction work shall be done in accordance with the
rules, regulations, or ordinances covering electrical work adopted by
Insular, provincial, city or municipal authorities: And Provided
Further, That whenever twenty-five or more pairs of open wires or other
conductors are carried on one line of poles in a city or municipal
center, said wires or conductors shall be placed in one cable; and that
whenever more than one hundred pairs of wires or other conductors in
cables are carried on one line off poles, said cables shall be placed
underground: And Provided Further, That the grantees, their successors
or assigns, under this franchise, shall install in the city of Manila,
within eighteen months from the date of the passage of this Act,
underground conduit equivalent to at least one hundred and twenty
thousand feet on single conduit: And Provided Further, That the poles
erected, wires and cables strung, or conduits laid by virtue of this
franchise shall be so placed as not impair the efficient and effective
transmission of messages or signals under the franchise granted to the
Philippine Islands Telephone and Telegraph Company, or to impair the
efficient and effective transmission of message or signals of any other
company whose poles are erected, whose wires and cables are strung, or
whose conduits are actually laid at the time the poles are to be
erected, wires and cables are to be strung, or conduits are to be laid
under and by virtue of this franchise.
Sec. 2. For the purpose of erecting and
maintaining poles or other supports for said wires or other conduits or
for the purpose of laying and maintaining underground said wires,
cables, or other conductors, it shall be unlawful for the grantees,
their successors or assigns, under such regulations and orders as may
be prescribed by Insular, provincial, city, or municipal authorities,
to make excavations and lay conduits in any of the public places,
lands, roads, highways, streets, lanes alleys, avenues, bridges, or
sidewalks in or between the said provinces, city, or municipalities:
Provided, However, That any public place, road, highway, street, lane,
alley, avenue, bridge, or sidewalk 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,
wherever disturbed, altered, or changed, be repaired and replaced in a
good, substantial, and workmanlike manner by said grantees, their
successors or assigns, after reasonable written notice from said
authorities, fail, refuse, or neglect to repair and replace in a good,
substantial, and workmanlike manner to the satisfaction of said
Insular, provincial, city, or municipal authorities any part of a
public place, road, highway, street, lane, alley, avenue, bridge, or
sidewalk altered, changed, or distributed by said grantees, their
successors or assigns, then the Insular, provincial, city, or municipal
authorities, as the case may be shall have the right to have the same
properly repaired and placed in good order and condition at the cost
and expense of the grantees, their successors or assigns.
Sec. 3. For the purpose of erecting and
maintaining poles or other supports for said wires or other conductors
or for the purpose of laying and maintaining underground said wires,
cables, or other conductors, it shall be unlawful for the grantees,
their successors or assigns, to modify, improve, and change such
telephone and telegraph system or systems, for the transmission of
messages by means of electricity, in such manner and to such extent as
the progress of science and improvements in the method of transmission
of messages and signals by means of electricity may make reasonable and
proper.
Sec. 4. The grantees, their successors or assigns,
shall keep a separate account of the gross receipts of the telephone,
telegraph, and electrical-transmission business transacted by them in
the city of Manila and in each of the municipalities of the various
provinces and shall furnish to the Insular Auditor and Insular
Treasurer 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. For the purpose of auditing the accounts so rendered to the
Insular Auditor and Insular Treasurer, all of the books and accounts of
the grantees, their successors or assigns, shall be subject to the
official inspection of the Insular Auditor, or his authorized
representatives, and in the absence of fraud or mistake the audit and
approval by the Insular Auditor of the accounts so rendered to him and
to the Insular Treasurer shall be final and conclusive evidence as to
the amount of said gross receipts.
Sec. 5. The grantees, their successors or assigns,
shall be liable to pay the same taxes on their 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. The
grantees, their successors or assigns, shall further pay to the Insular
Treasurer each year, within ten days after the audit and approval of
the accounts as prescribed in section four of this Act, two per centum
of all gross receipts of the telephone, telegraph, or other electrical
transmission business transacted under this franchise by the grantees,
their successors or assigns, and the said percentage shall be in lieu
of all taxes on the franchise or earnings thereof.
Sec. 6. As a guaranty that the franchise has been
accepted in good faith and that within eighteen months from the date of
the passage of this Act, the grantees, or their successors or assigns,
will have constructed, or reinforced concrete or other material
approved by the Director of Public Works, a main central building in
the city of Manila, which building, including the site on which it is
constructed, shall cost not less than eighty thousand pesos, and the
structure itself not less than sixty thousand pesos; that they will
have placed an underground conduit equivalent to one hundred thousand
feet of single conduit; that they will begin the business of
transmitting messages by telephone and will be fully equipped and ready
to operate according to the terms of this franchise one thousand
telephones in the city of Manila, the said grantees shall deposit at
the time of such acceptance, with the Insular Treasurer, fifty thousand
pesos or negotiable bonds of the United States or other securities,
approved by the Governor-General, of the face value of fifty thousand
pesos: Provided, However, That if the deposit is made in money the same
shall be deposited at interest in some interest-paying bank approved by
the Governor-General and all interest accruing and due on such deposit
shall be collected by the Insular Treasurer and paid to the grantees,
their successors or assigns, on demand: And Provided Further, That if
the deposit made with the Insular Treasurer be negotiable bonds of the
United States or other interest-bearing securities approved by the
Governor-General, the interest on such bonds or securities shall be
collected by the Insular Treasurer and paid over to said grantees,
their successors or assigns, on demand. Should the said grantees, their
successors or assigns, for any cause other than the act of God, the
public enemy, usurped or military power, martial law, riot, civil
commotion, or inevitable cause, fail, refuse, or neglect to construct
the building or lay the conduit prescribed by this Act within eighteen
months after its passage, or fail, refuse, or neglect to begin within
eighteen months from the date of the passage of this Act the business
of transmitting message by telephone, or fail, refuse, or neglect to be
fully equipped and ready to operate within eighteen months from the
date of the passage of this Act one thousand telephones in the city of
Manila according to the terms of this franchise, then the deposit
prescribed by this section to be made with the Insular Treasurer,
whether in money, bonds, or other securities, shall become the property
of the Insular Government as liquidated damages caused to such
Government by such failure, refusal, or neglect, and thereafter no
interest on said bonds or other securities deposited shall be paid to
the grantees, their successors or assigns: Provided, That a reasonable
extension of time, for proper cause shown, may be granted by the
Governor-General for the completion of the work.
Should the said grantees, their successors or assigns, construct the
building and lay the conduit as prescribed by this Act and begin the
business of transmitting messages by telephone and be ready to operate
according to the terms of this franchise one thousand telephones in the
city of Manila within eighteen months from the date of the passage of
this Act, then and in that event the deposit prescribed by this section
shall be returned by the Insular Government to the grantees, their
successors or assigns.
Sec. 7. The books and accounts of the grantees,
their successors or assigns, shall be subject to official inspection at
any and all times by the Insular Auditor or his authorized
representatives.
Sec. 8. The rights herein granted shall not be
exclusive, and the right and power to grant to any corporation,
association, or person other than the grantees franchises for the
telephonic, telegraphic, or electrical transmission of messages or
signals shall not be impaired or affected by the granting of this
franchise: Provided, That the poles erected, wires strung, or conduits
laid by virtue of any franchise for telephone, telegraph, or other
electrical transmission of messages and signals granted subsequent to
this Act shall be so placed as not to impair the efficient and
effective transmission of messages or signals under this franchise by
means of poles erected, wires strung, or conduits actually laid and in
existence at the time of the granting of said subsequent franchise: And
Provided Further, That grantees of this franchise may be required by
the Governor-General to remove, relocate, or replace their poles,
wires, or conduits, but in such case the reasonable cost of the
removal, relocation, or replacement shall be paid by the grantees of
the subsequent franchise or their successors or assigns to the grantees
of this franchise or their successors or assigns.
Sec. 9. The grantees of this franchise, their
successors or assigns, shall hold the Insular, provincial, city, and
municipal governments harmless from all claims, accounts, demands, or
actions arising out of accidents or injuries, whether to property or to
persons, caused by the construction or operation of the telephone,
telegraph, or other electrical-transmission system of the said
grantees, their successors or assigns.
Sec. 10. The city of Manila, and the
municipalities in which the grantees, their successors or assigns, may
establish telephone, telegraph, or any other system of electrical
transmission of messages and signals shall have the privilege of using,
without compensation, the poles of the grantees, their successors or
assigns, for the purpose of installing, maintaining, and operating a
fire and police telegraph or telephone alarm system, but the wires of
such telegraph or telephone, fire, and police alarm shall be so placed,
strung, stretched, and insulated as not to interfere with the efficient
transmission of messages and signals by the grantees, their successors
or assigns. In consideration of the city of Manila permitting drainage
into the new sewers of the city from the ducts of the grantees, their
successors or assigns, and in consideration of the said city permitting
the grantees, their successors or assigns, to hang their wires and
cables on its poles, the said grantees, their successors or assigns,
shall give to the city free of charge the exclusive use of one duct
through out its underground conduits for its fire and police alarm
wires: Provided, However, That any drainage from the ducts into the
sewers shall be under reasonable rules and regulations prescribed by
the Municipal Board of Manila, and in case permission to drain from the
ducts into the sewers is not granted to the grantees of this franchise,
or their successors or assigns, before construction work is commenced,
then no free use of the duct shall be required as aforesaid: And
Provided Further, That in case the grantees, their successors or
assigns, shall hang their wires and cables on the poles of the said
city of Manila, they shall be so placed, strung, stretched, and
insulated as not to interfere with the efficient transmission of fire
and police alarm messages and signals by the city of Manila, and the
placing, stringing, stretching, and insulating of the wires and cables
of the grantees, their successors and assigns, on poles of the city of
Manila shall be done in accordance with regulations prescribed by the
city of Manila.
Sec. 11. Within sixty days after the passage of
this Act the grantees shall file with the Secretary of Commerce and
Police their written acceptance of the franchise granted by this Act
and of the constructions of their telephone system in the city of
Manila within eight months from the date of such acceptance and shall
begin the business of transmitting messages by telephone and be
equipped and ready to operate at least one thousand telephones in said
city within eighteen months from the date of the passage of this Act
unless prevented by act of God, the public enemy; usurped or military
power, martial law, riot, civil commotion. or inevitable cause.
The failure, refusal, or neglect to comply with any of the terms and
conditions required of the grantees, their successors or assigns, by
this Act. shall subject the franchise to forfeiture unless such
failure, refusal, or neglect was directly and primarily caused by act
of God, the public enemy, usurped or military power, martial law, riot,
civil commotion, or inevitable cause. The time during which the
grantees are prevented from carrying out the terms and conditions of
this franchise by any of the causes cited herein shall be added to the
time allowed by the franchise for compliance with its provisions.
Sec. 12. The rates to be charged by the grantees,
their successors or assigns, shall not exceed the following: .
(a) Subscribers for telephones other than residence
telephones, having an individual and metallic circuit, with unlimited
exchange switching, shall pay monthly in advance a flat rate not to
exceed ten pesos;
(b) Subscribers having residence telephones on an
individual and metallic circuit, and unlimited exchange switching,
shall pay monthly in advance flat rate of not to exceed five pesos:
(c) Subscribers for telephones, residence or
otherwise, having a party wire, with not exceeding two subscribers on
the same line, and unlimited exchange switching, shall each pay monthly
in advance a flat rate of not to exceed sixty-five per centum of the
rate charged subscribers for residence or other telephones,
respectively, having individual and metallic circuits.
These rates shall apply within the corporate limits of the city of
Manila. No subscribers for telephones authorized by this Act shall be
obliged to purchase instruments or to make any deposit whatever for
telephone installation.
Sec. 13. The right is hereby reserved to the
Government of the Philippine Islands to regulate the rates to be
charged by the grantees, their successors or assigns, but any rates
which may hereafter be fixed shall be sufficient to yield a reasonable
return to the grantees, their successors or assigns, upon the capital
invested after making due allowance for the maintenance, operation, and
other necessary expenses.
Sec. 14. The grantees may transfer, sell, or
assign this franchise to the Automatic Telephone Construction Company,
formed and-organized under the laws of the State of California, and
such company shall have the right to buy and to own said franchise, but
the grantees shall not transfer, sell, or assign this franchise to any
other person, firm, company, corporation, or other commercial or legal
entity without the written approval of the Governor-General first had.
Any corporation to which this franchise is sold, transferred, or
assigned shall be subject to the corporation laws of the Philippine
Islands now existing or hereafter enacted, and any person, firm,
company, corporation or other commercial or legal entity 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 had
been originally granted to said persons, firm, company, corporation, or
other commercial or legal entity.
Unless otherwise authorized by the Governor-General, the person, firm,
company, corporation, or other commercial or legal entity to which this
franchise may be transferred, sold, or assigned shall operate the
automatic telephone system in the city of Manila during the life and
under the terms of this franchise, and the property of the person,
firm, company, corporation, or other commercial or legal entity
concerned shall be security for the carrying out of the terms of this
section and of this franchise; and for the failure to operate the
automatic telephone system in the city of Manila in accordance with the
terms of this franchise, and for the period for which this franchise is
granted all property of the grantees, or their successors or assigns,
in the city of Manila shall become the property of the Government of
the Philippine Islands as liquidated damages.
Sec. 15. No private property shall be taken for
any purpose under this franchise without just compensation paid or
tendered therefor, and any authority to take and occupy land shall not
authorize the taking, use, or occupation of any land except such as is
required for the actual necessary purposes for which the franchise is
granted. All lands or rights of use and occupation of lands granted to
the grantees, their successors or assigns, shall, upon the termination
of this franchise or upon its revocation or repeal, revert to the
Insular Government or the provincial or municipal government to which
such lands or the right to use and occupy them belonged at the time the
grant thereof or the right to use or occupy the same was conceded to
the grantees, their successors or assigns. The grantees, their
successors or assigns, shall not issue stock or bonds except in
exchange for actual cash or for property at a fair valuation equal to
the par value of the stocks or bonds issued and said grantees, their
successors or assigns, shall not declare any stock or bond dividend.
The grantees, their successors or assigns, shall not use, employ, or
contract for the labor of persons claimed or alleged to be held in
involuntary servitude. This franchise is granted subject to amendment,
alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the United States.
Sec. 16. The public good requiring the speedy
enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in
accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of
procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September
twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.
Sec. 17. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
ENACTED, May 18, 1907.
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