REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5929  - AN ACT GRANTING FELIPE DELA CRUZ A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN AN ICE PLANT AND COLD STORAGE AND TO SELL AND TO SUPPLY COLD STORAGE FACILITIES IN QUEZON CITY

Section 1.    Subject to the conditions imposed by this Act, there is hereby granted to Felipe dela Cruz, hereafter referred to as the grantee, a franchise to construct, operate and maintain an ice plant and cold storage in Quezon City for the purpose of manufacturing and distributing ice and supplying cold storage, and to charge and collect a schedule of prices and rates for the ice and cold storage so furnished, which schedule shall be subject to regulation by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor.  

Sec. 2.    The grantee shall manufacture and supply ice up to the limit of the capacity of his plant, said limit to be determined by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor in a certificate of public necessity and convenience as may be issued by the Commission as prescribed in Section five hereof.

Sec. 3.    All apparatus and appurtenances to be used by the grantee shall be modern, safe and first class in every respect, and he shall change or alter any of his apparatus and appurtenances at his expense whenever the Commission believes that public interest reasonably requires it.

Sec. 4.    This franchise shall continue for a period of twenty-five years from the date the ice plant and cold storage shall be placed in operation and shall commence the manufacture and distribution of ice wherever it is established, and is subject to the express condition that the franchise shall be null and void unless the construction of the plant and cold storage be begun within two years from the date of approval of this Act and completed within four years from said date, except when prevented by an act of God, force majeure, martial law, riot, civil commotion, usurpation of military power, or any other cause beyond the grantee's control.

Sec. 5.    After the grantee's compliance with the requirements of the next preceding section, the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, by proper orders or writ, shall authorize the construction of the necessary work for the purpose of this franchise within a reasonable time to be determined by the said Commission.

Upon determination by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor after a hearing and upon reasonable written notice to the grantee that he has violated any of the provisions of this section concerning the commencement and completion of work authorized by the certificate of public necessity and convenience, the Commission or its legal successor shall declare the bond or bonds forfeited as liquidated damages and not as penalty to the National Government.

The Commission or its legal successor shall order the return of the deposit as aforestated together with any interest or dividends thereon to the grantee upon the satisfactory completion of any work authorized by its certificate, in accordance with the terms and conditions stated therein, and the Treasurer of the Philippines shall return said deposit to the grantee together with said interest or dividends immediately upon presentation by him of a certified copy of such order of the Public Service Commission or its legal successor.  

Sec. 6.    The books, records and accounts of the grantee shall always be open to inspection by the city treasurer of Quezon City where the ice plant and cold storage are established, or his authorized representatives, and it shall be the duty of the grantee to submit to the city treasurer quarterly reports in quadruplicate showing the gross receipts for the quarter past, one of which shall be forwarded by the treasurer to the Auditor General, who shall keep it on file.

Sec. 7.    The grantee, with the prior approval of the Congress of the Philippines duly obtained, may sell, lease, grant, convey, assign, give in usufruct, or transfer the franchise and all property and rights acquired thereunder to any individual, co-partnership, private, public or quasi-public association, corporation, or joint stock company competent to operate the business hereby authorized by transfer of title to the franchise or any right of ownership or interest acquired under such sale, lease, grant, conveyance, assignment, or gift in usufruct.

Such transfer shall not be effective after approval has been obtained unless there be filed in the Office of the Public Service Commission or its legal successor an agreement in writing by which the individual, co-partnership, private, public or quasi-public association, corporation, or joint stock company in whose favor such sale, assignment, gift in usufruct, or transfer is made shall be firmly bound to comply with all terms and conditions imposed upon the grantee by this franchise and by any and all certificates of public necessity and convenience therefor issued by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, and to accept the same subject to all existing terms and conditions.

The Public Service Commission, or its legal successor, shall have the power, after a reasonable written notice to the grantee and a hearing of the interested parties, to declare the forfeiture of the franchise and all rights inherent therein for failure of the grantee to comply with any of the terms and conditions thereof, unless such fail of God, force majeure, usurpation of rights, uprising, or ore shall have been caused directly or primarily by an act other cause beyond the grantee's control. Against such declaration of forfeiture by the Public Service Commission, or its legal successor, the grantee may apply for the remedies provided in sections thirty-four and thirty-six of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended. The remedy provided therein shall not be a bar to any other remedies provided by existing laws for the forfeiture of the franchise.

Sec. 8.    The grantee shall be liable to pay the same taxes, unless exempted therefrom, on his business, 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.  

Sec. 9.    This franchise is granted subject to the provisions of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended, and with the understanding and upon condition that it shall be subject to amendment, alteration or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when public interest so requires.

SECTION 10.    In consideration of this franchise the grantee shall pay a tax equivalent to five per cent (5%) of his gross income.

SECTION 11.    This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted without Executive approval, June 21, 1969.