Question & AnswerQ&A (Acts No. 1842)
The franchise grants the right to construct, maintain, and operate telephone and telegraph systems, and to carry on other electrical transmission businesses in and between the provinces and municipalities of the Island of Panay.
The Governor-General is authorized on behalf of the Government of the Philippine Islands to offer the franchise for public bidding and to grant it to the best bidder.
The franchise is granted for a period of fifty years from and after the date of acceptance of the franchise.
Poles must be straight, smooth, painted to the satisfaction of authorities, located in places designated by provincial or municipal authorities, and placed to prevent danger to life or property. The grantees must also comply with relocation or removal orders with the right to appeal to the Governor-General.
Grantees may make excavations and lay conduits in public places under prescribed regulations but must repair and replace any disturbed public place, road, or sidewalk in a good, substantial, and workmanlike manner to the satisfaction of the authorities.
The grantees shall pay the same taxes on real estate, buildings, and personal property as others, plus a percentage of gross receipts of their operation as payment in lieu of all taxes on the franchise or earnings thereof.
The grantees must deposit with the Insular Treasurer five thousand pesos or negotiable bonds or approved securities as a guaranty and must begin operating with at least two hundred telephones in the municipality of Iloilo within eighteen months from acceptance.
The deposit made as a guaranty shall become the property of the Insular Government as liquidated damages, and thereafter no interest on bonds deposited shall be paid to the grantees.
No, the rights are not exclusive. The government may grant franchises to others, but poles, wires, and conduits of subsequent franchises must not impair the operation under this franchise.
Such failure, refusal, or neglect shall subject the franchise to forfeiture unless directly caused by acts of God, public enemy, military power, martial law, riot, civil commotion, or inevitable cause.
The government reserves the right to regulate the rates charged by the grantees to ensure rates yield reasonable returns after proper allowances and to establish maximum rates as specified in the franchise.
Yes, but only to corporations formed under Philippine or United States laws, with prior written approval of the Governor-General, and the transferee is subject to all terms and conditions of the franchise.