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This page features the full text of
Republic Act No. 6849
"Municipal
Telephone Act of 1989"
AN
ACT PROVIDING FOR THE INSTALLATION, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE OF
PUBLIC
TELEPHONES IN EACH AND EVERY MUNICIPALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES,
APPROPRIATING
FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
REPUBLIC
ACT NO. 6849
AN
ACT PROVIDING FOR THE INSTALLATION, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE OF
PUBLIC
TELEPHONES IN EACH AND EVERY MUNICIPALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES,
APPROPRIATING
FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Section
1. Title. — This Act shall be
known as the "Municipal Telephone Act of 1989."
chan
robles virtual law library
Sec.
2. Declaration of National Policy.
— Recognizing that the benefits of modern communication technology are
as important to rural development as they are to urban areas, the State
shall pursue and foster, in an orderly, purposive and vigorous manner,
the interconnection of all municipalities in the country through the
establishment
and early realization of a nationwide network of public calling
stations.
Sec.
3. Projects Office. — For purposes
of administering the provisions of this Act, there is hereby created a
Municipal Telephone Projects Office in the Department of Transportation
and Communications (DOTC) with the following functions: chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred
(a) Develop,
in coordination with all other agencies concerned, a plan for providing
public calling stations with technology capable of voice and data
transmission
in every municipality and, when feasible, in such barangay not
otherwise
served by an existing telephone exchange using appropriate technology
and
for this purpose formulate or cause to be formulated, engineering
studies; (b) Undertake
the implementation of the said plans and programs and toward this end,
to enter into contracts subject to existing laws and regulations for
the
procurement of equipment, construction of facilities and the
installation
of the system; (c) Arrange
for funding from any source, private, government, foreign or domestic,
including official development assistance, bilateral and multilateral
loans
subject to applicable laws and regulations; chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred
(d) Prescribe
and ensure compatibility with minimum standards and regulations to
assure
acceptable standards of construction, maintenance, operation, personnel
training, accounting and fiscal practices for the municipal
telecommunications
operators of public calling stations;
(e) Furnish
technical assistance and personnel training programs for the municipal
telecommunications operators of public calling stations;
(f) Monitor
and evaluate local telecommunications and effect system integration and
operations whenever economically and technically feasible.
Provided,
however, That the approval of the provincial government of the province
where any or all of the functions abovementioned are to be discharged
is
first secured.chanrobles virtual law library
Sec.
4. Management of the Projects
Office. — A Projects Director, who shall be a person of integrity,
competence
and experience in technical fields related to the purposes of this Act,
shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon the
recommendation
of the Secretary of Transportation and Communications. He shall have
the
rank, position and emoluments of an undersecretary.chanrobles virtual law library
The
Projects Director shall have the following powers and duties: chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred
(a) To
execute and administer the plans and projects for the realization of
the
policy set forth in this Act; (b) To
direct and supervise the operation and internal administration of the
Projects
Office and, for this purpose, to delegate some or any of his powers and
duties to appropriate subordinate officials;
(c) Subject
to the guidelines and policies established by the Secretary of
Transportation
and Communications, to appoint and in coordination with the Department
of Budget and Management fix the number and compensation of officials
and
employees of the Projects Office, subject to Civil Service Law; chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred
(d) To
prepare an annual report on the activities of the Projects Office on or
before the end of the first quarter after the fiscal year completed and
to submit a copy thereof to the President of the Philippines and the
Congress
of the Philippines; and
(e) To
exercise such other powers and duties that are proper or necessary to
carry
out the purposes of this Act as may be vested in him by the Secretary
of
Transportation and Communications.
Sec.
5. Rights of First Option. —
All domestic telecommunications carriers or utilities existing at the
time
of the effectivity of this Act, and franchised to service a province or
region which shall have been certified by the National
Telecommunications
Commission (NTC) as rendering satisfactory and competent service in its
area of operation, are hereby given, under equal conditions and
circumstances,
the first option to provide, install and operate public calling
stations
or telephones in provincial communications network which shall be
capable
of voice and data transmission and shall be interconnected to the
public
switched telephone network or other national transmission facilities.
The
intention to exercise the option shall be made specifically in writing
to the Projects Office within six (6) months of the effectivity of this
Act, and shall indicate the preferred province and the time frame of
development.
Private operators or franchisees of such public calling stations shall
be entitled to the same benefits and privileges enjoyed by those
installed
and operated by the government insofar as tax concessions and/or
incentives
are concerned.
Sec.
6. Frequency Allocation. — In
order to accelerate the implementation of this project, the National
Telecommunications
Commission (NTC) is authorized to assign or reassign, when necessary,
existing
radio frequency-users currently operating.chanrobles virtual law library
Sec.
7. Rates and Mandatory Sharing
of Toll Revenue. — The NTC, subject to its standard guidelines and in
consultation
with the regional development councils concerned, shall fix an
equitable,
reasonable and uniform rate of charges for every type of call. A rate
schedule
shall be set for all municipal telephone calls under the following
classifications:
(a) Municipal
to International; chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred(b) Municipal
to Metro Manila, and other domestic long distance calls;
(c) Municipal
to Provincial Capital;
(d) Municipal
to Municipal chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred
(1) of
the same province (2) of
different provinces, other than domestic long distance.chanrobles virtual law library
In
connection with the rates, the National Telecommunications Commission
(NTC),
in consultation with the toll network operators or interchange carriers
and the provincial government concerned, shall authorize and cause the
implementation of an equitable toll revenue sharing and collection
scheme.
The share of the local exchange operators in toll revenues shall be
remitted
by the interchange carriers to them within ninety (90) days from
receipt.chanrobles virtual law library
Sec.
8. Timetable of Implementation.
— The Projects Office shall install all public calling stations for
provinces
and municipalities not covered by private communication utilities under
Section 5 hereof, such that each one of the municipalities in the
Philippines
still unserved by telephone at the effectivity of this Act, shall have
at least one (1) public calling station or public telephone by the
third
year of effectivity of this Act. Where resources permit, the Projects
Office
shall also extend the services concurrently or subsequently to other
remote
barangays of the country. The public calling stations shall be
interconnected
to the public switched telephone network or other national transmission
facilities, subject to the technical interconnection standards
prescribed
by the NTC.chanrobles virtual law library
Sec.
9. Operation by Local Governments.
— Provinces and municipalities are hereby authorized to set up, operate
and maintain their respective public calling stations or to grant
franchise
to private entities for the operation and maintenance of telephone
systems
and/or public calling stations: Provided, That the NTC certifies that
the
proposed grantee is technically and financially capable of complying
with
all the requirements of public service. chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred
Sec.
10. Appropriation. — The amount
of Two hundred million pesos (P200,000,000.00), or so much thereof as
may
be necessary to implement the provisions of this Act, shall be taken
from
the appropriations provided under Title I — Telecommunications of
Executive
Order No. 182. In addition, the sum of Three hundred million pesos
(P300,000,000.00),
or so much thereof in equivalent foreign currencies as may be
necessary,
shall be sourced, in their order of preference, from foreign grants,
concessional
loans, official development assistance, commercial loans, and/or export
credits to meet the objectives of this Act.
Sec.
11. Official Development Assistance.
— The provision of Executive Order No. 230 of 1986, on the power of the
NEDA Board, and the rules and regulations governing the evaluation and
authorization for the availment of Official Development Assistance
notwithstanding,
the municipal telephone program provided for in this Act shall be
eligible
for foreign loans and grants without further evaluation by the NEDA
Board,
subject to Section 21, Article XII of the Constitution. chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred
TRANSITORY
PROVISIONS
Sec.
12. Sunset Clause. — The Projects
Office shall not have a life exceeding ten (10) years from the date of
the approval of this Act and may only be extended by act of Congress.
At
the option of the provincial government, the systems, operating in each
province shall be turned over to it, except those operating under
Section
5 thereof. chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred
Sec.
13. Separability of Provisions.
— Any portion or provisions of this Act that may be declared
unconstitutional
or invalid shall not have the effect of nullifying other portions and
provisions
hereof as long as such remaining portions or provisions can still
subsist
and be given effect in their entirety.chanrobles virtual law library
Sec.
14. Repealing Clause. — All acts
or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are repealed or modified
accordingly.
Sec.
15. Effectivity. — This Act shall
take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two (2)
national newspapers of general circulation. chanrobles virtuallaw libraryred
Approved:
February
8, 1990
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