[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7925 ]

AN ACT TO PROMOTE AND GOVERN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHILIPPINE TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE DELIVERY OF PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled.

ARTICLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

SECTION 1. Short Title - This Act shall be known as the "Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines."

SEC. 2. Scope and Application - This Act shall apply to all public telecommunications entities in the Philippines.

SEC. 3. Definitions and Interpretations - For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall be used:

a) Telecommunications - any process which enables a telecommunications entity to relay and receive voice, data, electronic messages, written or printed matter, fixed or moving pictures, words, music or visible or audible signals or any control signals of any design and for any purpose by wire, radio or other electromagnetic, spectral, optical or technological means.

b) Public telecommunications entity - any person, firm, partnership or corporation, government or private, engaged in the provision of telecommunications services to the public for compensation.

c) Broadcasting - an undertaking the object of which is to transmit over-the-air commercial radio or television messages for reception of a broad audience in a geographic area.

d) Franchise - a privilege conferred upon a telecommunications entity by Congress, authorizing that entity to engage in a certain type of telecommunications service.

e) Local exchange operator - an entity providing transmission and switching of telecommunications services, primarily but not limited to voice-to-voice service, in a geographic area anywhere in the Philippines.

f) Inter-exchange carrier - an entity, sometimes referred to as carrier's carrier or national backbone network operator, authorized to install, own and operate facilities which connect local exchanges within the Philippines and to engage in the business of inter-exchange national long distance services.

g) International carrier - an entity primarily engaged in the business of providing transmission and switching of any telecommunications service between the Philippines and any other point of the world to which it has an existing correspondent or prospective interconnection agreements.

h) Value-added service provider (VAS) - an entity which relying on the transmission, switching and local distribution facilities of the local exchange and inter-exchange operators, and overseas carriers, offers enhanced services beyond those ordinarily provided for by such carriers.

i) Public toll calling station - a non-exclusive facility at which the public may, by the payment of appropriate fees, place as well as receive telephone calls and/or telegrams or other messages.

j) Mobile radio telephone system - a wide area mobile, radio telephone system with its own switch, base stations and transmission facilities capable of providing high capacity mobile telecommunications by utilizing radio frequencies.

k) Interconnection - the linkage, by wire, radio, satellite or other means, of two or more existing telecommunications carriers or operators with one another for the purpose of allowing or enabling the subscribers of one carrier or operator to access or reach the subscribers of the other carriers or operators.

[REPUBLIC ACT NO. 3846 ]

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE REGULATION OF RADIO STATIONS AND RADIO COMMUNICATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SECTION 1. No person, firm, company, association or corporation shall construct, install, establish, or operate a radio station within the Philippine Islands without having first obtained a franchise therefor from the Philippine Legislature; Provided however, That no franchise from the Legislature shall be necessary for the construction, installation, establishment or operation of a broadcasting station, an amateur station, an experimental station, a training station, a station on board a mobile vessel, train, or aircraft, or a private station in a place without any means of communication.

SECTION 2. The construction or installation of any station shall not be begun, unless a permit therefor has been granted by the Secretary of Commerce and Communications. No station shall be operated except under and in accordance with the provisions of a license issued therefor by the Secretary of Commerce and Communications. The license shall state the dates between which the station may be operated. If a renewal is desired, the licensee shall submit an application to the Secretary of Commerce and Communication at least two (2) months before the expiration date of the license to be renewed. The Secretary of Commerce and Communication shall determine the period for which each license is issued; Provided, that no license shall be issued for a longer period than three (3) years.

SECTION 3. The Secretary of Commerce and Communication is hereby empowered to regulate the establishment, use, and operation of all radio stations and of all forms of radio communications and transmissions within the Philippine Islands and to issue such rules and regulations as may be necessary. In addition to the above, he shall have the following specific powers and duties:

a) He shall classify radio stations and prescribe the nature of service to be rendered by each class and by each station within any class;

b) He shall assign call letters and assign frequencies for each station licensed by him and for each station established by virtue of a franchise granted by the Philippine Legislature and specify the stations to which each such frequency may be used;

c) He shall make rules and regulations to prevent and eliminate interference between stations and to carry out the provisions of this Act and the provisions of International Radio Regulations: Provided however, that changes in the frequencies or in the authorized power, or in the character of omitted signals, or in the type of the power supply, or in the hours of operation of any licensed station, shall not be made without first giving the station a hearing;

d) He may establish areas or zones to be served by any station;

e) He may make special rules and regulations applicable to radio stations engaging in chain broadcasting;

f) He may make general rules and regulations requiring stations to keep records of traffic handled, distress, frequency watches, programs, transmissions of energy, communications or signs;

g) He may conduct such investigations as may be necessary in connection with radio matters and hold hearings, summon witnesses, administer oaths and compel the production of books, logs, documents and papers;

h) He may prescribe rules and regulations to be observed by radio training schools; he may supervise the course and method of instruction therein, and he may refuse to admit to examinations for radio operators' licenses graduates of any radio school not complying with the regulations;

i) He shall prescribe rates of charges to be paid to the Government for the inspection of stations, for the licensing of stations, for the examination of operators, for the licensing of operators, for the renewal of station or operator licenses, and for such other services as may be rendered;

j) He is hereby empowered to approve or disapprove any application for the construction, installation, establishment or operation of a radio station;

k) He may approve or disapprove any application for renewal of station or operator license: Provided however, that no application for renewal shall be disapproved without giving the licensee a hearing;

l) He may, at his discretion, bring criminal actions against violators of the radio law or the regulations; or simply suspend or revoke the offender's station or operator's licenses; or refuse to renew such licenses; or just reprimand and warn the offenders;

m) The location of any station, and the power and kind or type of apparatus to be used shall be subject to his approval;

n) He shall prescribe rules and regulations to be observed by stations for the handling of SOS messages and distress traffic: Provided, that such rules and regulations shall not conflict with the provisions of the International Radio Regulations.

SECTION 4. No radio station license shall be transferred to any person, firm, company, association or corporation without express authority of the Secretary of Commerce and Communications, and no license shall be granted or transferred to any person who is not a citizen of the United States of America or of the Philippine Islands; or to any firm or company which is not incorporated under the laws of the Philippine Islands or any state or territory of the United States of America; or to any company or corporation twenty percent (20%) of whose capital stock may be voted by aliens or their representatives, or by a foreign government or its representatives, or by any company, corporation, or association organized under the laws of a foreign country.

SECTION 5. The privileges granted in any station license shall not be exclusive.

SECTION 6. The President of the United States of America, or the Governor-General of the Philippine Islands, in time of war, public peril, calamity, or disaster, may cause the closing of any radio station in the Philippine Islands; or may authorize the temporary use or possession thereof by any department of the Government upon just compensation to the owners. SECTION 7. A person to whom or through whom a message has been submitted for transmission shall not willfully publish or divulge the contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning thereof to any unauthorized person; and no person not being authorized by the sender or the addressee shall intercept any message or communication and willfully divulge or publish the contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such intercepted message or communication to any person; and no person not being entitled thereto shall receive, or assist in receiving, any message or communications and use the same or any information therein contained for his benefit or for the benefit of another not entitled thereto; and no person having received such intercepted message or communication, or having become acquainted with the contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of the same or any part thereof, knowing that such information was so obtained, shall divulge or publish the contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of the same or any part thereof, or use the same or any information therein contained for his own benefit or for the benefit of another not entitled thereto: Provided, that this section shall not apply to the transmitting, receiving, divulging, publishing or utilizing the contents of any message or communication broadcasted or transmitted by amateurs or others for the use of the general public or relating to ships in distress.

SECTION 8. The Secretary of Commerce and Communication is hereby authorized to create a Radio Regulation Section, Division, or Office, which shall take charge of carrying out the provisions of this Act and of the regulations prescribed by him, or to delegate temporarily the duties herein conferred upon him and the enforcement of the regulations prescribed by him, to any bureau or office under his department, subject to his general supervision and control.

SECTION 9. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to radio stations of the United States Government and those of the Philippine Government. Foreign mobile stations temporarily located within the Philippine Islands shall be exempt from the provisions of this Act: Provided, however, That they shall be subject to the provisions of the International Radiotelegraph Regulations.

SECTION 10. The powers vested in and the duties imposed upon the Director of Posts by Act Numbered Thirty-three hundred and ninety-six are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Commerce and Communication, who is hereby empowered to include in the general radio regulations under this Act, regulations governing radio apparatus compulsory required on vessels of Philippine registry by Act Numbered Thirty-three hundred and ninety-six, notwithstanding the fact that such regulations may be different from those specifically provided in said Act Numbered Thirty-three hundred and ninety-six: Provided however, that such regulations shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea: Provided further, that this section or any part thereof shall not be construed as in any way affecting the provisions of Act Numbered Thirty-three hundred and ninety-six making compulsory the installation of radio apparatus on certain vessels and penalizing violations thereof.

SECTION 11. Act Numbered Thirty-two hundred and seventy-five, entitled, "An Act to Amend Article One of Chapter Fifty-two and Section Twenty-seven hundred and fifty-seven of the Administrative Code, Providing for the Effective Radio Control," is hereby repealed: Provided however, that such repeal shall not affect any act done, or any right accrued, or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any criminal or civil cause, prior to said repeal.

SECTION 12. Any person who shall violate any mandatory or prohibitory provision of this Act, or any mandatory or prohibitory provision of the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and Communication under this Act, or any mandatory or prohibitory provision of the International Radio Regulations, upon conviction thereof by a court of competent jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred pesos or by imprisonment for not more than three months, or both, for each and every offense.

SECTION 13. Any firm, company, corporation or association failing or refusing to observe or violating any provision of this Act, or any provision of the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and Communication under this Act, or any provision of the International Radio Regulations, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand pesos for each and every offense.

SECTION 14. This Act shall take effect three months

[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

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Title. - This act shall be known as the "Municipal Telephone Act of 2000."

SECTION 2. Declaration of National Day 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.

SECTION 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:

(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 form any source, private, government, foreign or domestic, including official development assistance, bilateral and multilateral loans subject to applicable laws and regulations;

(c) Prescribe and ensure compatibility with minimum standards and regulations to assure acceptable standards of construction, maintenance, operation,

(d) 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 above mentioned are to be discharge is first secured.

SECTION 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.

The Projects Director shall have the following powers and duties;

(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;
(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.

SECTION 5. Rights of First Option. - All domestic telecommunications carriers or utilities existing at the time of the affectivity 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 affectivity of this 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 Government in so far as tax concessions and/or incentives are concerned.

SECTION 6. Frequency Allocation. - In order to accelerate the implementation of this project, National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) is authorized to assign or reassign, when necessary, existing radio frequency users currently operating.

SECTION 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;
(b) Municipal to Metro Manila, and other domestic long distance calls;
(c) Municipal to Provincial Capital;
(d) Municipal to Municipal;

(1) of the same province
(2) of difference provinces, other than domestic long distance.

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 carries to them within ninety days (90) form receipt.

SECTION 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 affectivity of this Act, shall have at least one (1) public calling station or public telephone by the third year of effectively 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.

SECTION 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 services.

SECTION 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 1 - 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 source, in their order of preference, from foreign grants, concessional loans, official development assistance, commercial loans, and/or export credits to meet the objective of this Act.

SECTION 11. Official Development Assistance. - The provisions 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.

TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

SECTION 12. Sunset Clause. - The projects Office shall not have a life exceeding ten (10) years from the d ate of the approval of this Act and may only be extended by act of Congress. At the options of the provincial government, the systems operating in each province shall be turned over to it, except those operating under Section 5 thereof.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 14. Repealing Clause. - All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 15. Effectivity. - This act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two (2) national newspapers of general circulation.