REPUBLIC ACT No. 5349

An Act Granting Bislig Bay Lumber Company a Temporary Permit to Construct, Operate and Maintain Private Fixed, Aeronautical Fixed, Aeronautical, Land-Mobile/Portable, Based, Land-Mobile/Portable, Coast, Ship, Survival Craft, Radio Determination and Radio Beacon Stations for the Reception and Transmission of Wireless Intelligence in the Philippines

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:

Section 1. There is hereby granted to Bislig Bay Lumber Company, its successors and assigns, a temporary permit to construct, maintain and operate in such places in the Philippines where it operates or transacts its business or renders its services, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, or any licensing authority, private fixed, aeronautical fixed, aeronautical, land mobile/portable, based, land mobile/portable, coast, ship, survival craft, radio determination and radio beacon stations for the reception and/or transmission of wireless intelligence on radiotelegraphy or radiotelephony, inclusive of but not limited to facsimile, radioteletype, nationally and/or internationally, each station to be provided with radio transmitting equipment and/or radio receiving equipment, as necessary.

Section 2. This temporary permit shall continue to be in force during the time that the grantee, its successors or assigns, conducts its business or services at the places selected by the grantee, and is granted upon the express condition that the same shall be void unless the construction or installation of at least two radio stations be begun within two years from the date of the approval of this Act.

Section 3. The grantee, its successors or assigns, shall not engage in domestic public telecommunications business in the Philippines, it being understood that the purpose of this temporary permit is to secure to the grantee, its successors or assigns, the right to construct, install, maintain and operate its radio stations herein granted at the places above-mentioned for the primary purpose of promoting and protecting the business and other interest of the grantee.

Section 4. No fees shall be charged by the grantee as the radio stations that may be established by virtue of this Act shall be engaged in communications regarding the grantee's business interests: Provided, However, That the grantee may allow affiliate, allied or associated companies to use any of its facilities on a non-profit basis.

Section 5. The grantee, its successors or assigns, is authorized to operate its radio stations herein granted in the very low frequency, low frequency, medium frequency, high frequency, very high frequency, ultra high frequency, super high frequency and extreme high frequency that shall be assigned to it by the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, or by any licensing authority.

Section 6. The President of the Philippines shall have the power and authority to permit the location of said private fixed point-to-point and private coastal radio stations or any of them on lands of the public domain upon such terms as he may prescribe.

Section 7. The grantee, its successors or assigns, shall so construct and operate its radio stations as not to interfere with the operation of other radio station maintained and operated in the Philippines.

Section 8. The grantee, its successors or assigns, shall hold the national, provincial and municipal governments of the Philippines 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 its radio stations.

Section 9. The grantee, its successors or assigns, shall be subject to the corporation laws of the Philippines.

Section 10. A special right is hereby reserved to the President of the Philippines in time of war, insurrection, public peril, calamity or disaster to cause the closing of the grantee's radio stations or to authorize the temporary use or possession thereof by any department of the Government upon just compensation.

Section 11. This temporary permit shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when the public interest so requires, and shall not be interpreted as an exclusive grant of the privilege herein provided for.

Section 12. In the event of any individual, partnership or corporation receiving from the Congress a similar permit in which there shall be any term or terms more favorable than those herein granted, then such term or terms shall ipso facto become part of the terms hereof and shall operate equally in favor of the grantee as in the case of said individual, partnership or corporation.

Section 13. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 15, 1968.


The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation