Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE
Second Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No, 8725

Introduced by REP. MANUEL F. ZUBIRI and
REP. MARIA LOURDES ACOSTA-ALBA

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Broadcast radio and television remain the main avenues of news, information,
and entertainment for millions of Filipino people, especially for households with
limited spending capacity for cable and internet access, and for areas that are
yet to enjoy affordable, accessible, and stable internet connectivity. According
to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, radio reaches around 85
percent of the Filipino population.

Mindanao is an especially potent ground for radio and television broadcasting,
with many municipalities having extremely limited internet connectivity.

Overall, Mindanao-based radio and broadcasting stations serve a population of
over 25 million Mindanawons, from first-class highly urbanized centers to sixth-
class municipalities, providing a variety of programs that cover news, public
affairs, arts and culture, and faith and worship.

Highland Broadcasting Network Corp. will serve the whole of Mindanao,
delivering programming that corresponds to the concerns and interests of
Mindanawons—through a much closer lens than larger broadcasting stations
are capable of doing, but also having a wider scope than specialized community
radios are able to cover.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is urgently sought.

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MANUEL F. ZUBIRI MARIA LOURDES ACOSTA-ALBA
Y


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE
Second Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 8725

Introduced by REP. MANUEL F. ZUBIRI and
REP. MARIA LOURDES ACOSTA-ALBA

AN ACT
GRANTING THE HIGHLAND BROADCASTING NETWORK CORP. A
FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, INSTALL, ESTABLISH, OPERATE AND
MAINTAIN RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING STATIONS IN
MINDANAO.

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

SECTION 1. Nature and Scope of Franchise. - Subject to the provisions
of the Constitution and applicable laws, rules and regulations, there is hereby
granted to Highland Broadcasting Network Corp., hereunder referred to as the
grantee, its successor or assignees, a franchise to construct, establish, operate and
maintain for commercial purposes and in the public interest, radio and/or television
broadcasting stations in the whole of Mindanao, where frequencies and/or channels
are still available for radio and/or television broadcasting, including digital television
system, through microwave, satellite or whatever means as well as the use of any
new technology in television and radio systems, with the corresponding
technological auxiliaries and facilities, special broadcast and other program and
distribution services and relay stations.

SEC. 2. Manner of Operation of Stations or Facilities. - The stations or
facilities of the grantee shall be constructed and operated in a manner as will, at
most, result only in the minimum interference on the wavelengths or frequencies of
existing stations or other stations which may be established by law, without in any
way diminishing its own privilege to use its assigned wavelengths or frequencies and
the quality of transmission or reception thereon as should maximize rendition of the
grantee’s services and/or availability thereof.


SEC. 3. Prior Approval of the National Telecommunications
Commission. — The grantee shall secure from the National Telecommunications
Commission (NTC) the appropriate permits and licenses for the construction and
operation of its stations or facilities and shall not use any frequency in the
radio/television spectrum without authorization by the NTC. The NTC, however,
shall not unreasonably withhold or delay the grant of any such authority.

The grantee shall not dispose or lease its facilities except to entities with a
radio or television broadcasting franchise: Provided, That the grantee shall inform
and secure written authorization from the NTC to proceed with such disposal or
lease, and report the transaction to the NTC within sixty (60) days after its
completion: Provided, further, That the NTC shall determine the corresponding
sanction for any violation of this provision.

The NTC shall have the authority to revoke or suspend, after due process, the
permits or licenses of the grantee for any violation of the provisions of the franchise,
and may recommend to Congress the revocation of the franchise for any violation of
the provisions thereof.

SEC. 4. Responsibility to the Public. - The grantee shall provide, free of
charge, adequate public service time which is reasonable and sufficient to enable the
government, through the grantee’s broadcasting stations or facilities, to reach the
pertinent populations or portions thereof, on important public issues, and relay
important public announcements and warnings concerning public emergencies and
calamities, as necessity, urgency or the law may require; provide at all times sound
and balanced programming; promote public participation; assist in the functions of
public information and education; conform to the ethics of honest enterprise;
promote audience sensibility and empowerment including closed captioning; and not
use its stations or facilities for the broadcasting of obscene or indecent language,
speech, act or scene, or for the dissemination of deliberately false information or
willful misrepresentation, to the detriment of public interest; or to incite, encourage
or assist in subversive or treasonable acts.

Public service time referred herein shall be equivalent to a maximum
aggregate of ten percent (10%) of paid commercials or advertisements which shall
be allocated based on need to the Executive and Legislative branches, the Judiciary,
Constitutional Commissions, and international humanitarian organizations duly
recognized by statutes: Provided, That the NTC shall increase the public service time
in case of extreme emergency or calamity. The NTC shall issue rules and
regulations for this purpose, the effectivity of which shall commence upon
applicability with other similarly situated broadcast network franchise holders.

Pursuant to Republic Act No. 8370, otherwise known as the “Children’s
Television Act of 1997”, the grantee shall allot a minimum of fifteen percent (15%)
of the daily total air time of each broadcasting network to child-friendly shows within
its regular programming.


SEC. 5. Right of the Government. - The radio spectrum is a finite
resource that is part of the national patrimony, and the use thereof is a privilege
conferred upon the grantee by the State that may be withdrawn any time after due
process.

A special right is hereby reserved to the President of the Philippines, in times
of war, rebellion, public peril, calamity, emergency, disaster, or disturbance of peace
and order, to temporarily take over and operate the stations or facilities of the
grantee, or to temporarily suspend the operation of any station or facility in the
interest of public safety, security and public welfare, or to authorize the temporary
use and operation thereof by any agency of the government, upon due
compensation to the grantee, for the use of said stations or facilities during the
period when these shall be so operated.

SEC. 6. Term of Franchise. — This franchise shall be in effect for a period of
twenty-five (25) years from the effectivity of this Act, unless sooner revoked or
cancelled. This franchise shall be deemed jpso facto revoked in the event the
grantee fails to operate continuously for two (2) years.

SEC. 7. Se/f-regulation by and Undertaking of Grantee. - The grantee
shall not require any previous censorship of any speech, play, act or scene, or other
matter to be broadcast from its stations, but if any such speech, play, act or scene,
or other matter should constitute a violation of the law or infringement of a private
right, the grantee shall be free from any liability, civil or criminal, for such speech,
play, act or scene, or other matter: Provided, That the grantee, during any
broadcast, shall cut off the airing of speech, play, act or scene, or other matter
being broadcast if the tendency thereof is to propose or incite treason, rebellion or
sedition; or the language used therein or the theme thereof is indecent or immoral:
Provided, further, That willful failure to do so shall constitute a valid cause for the
cancellation of this franchise.

SEC. 8. Warranty in Favor of the National and Local Governments. -
The grantee shall hold the national, provincial, city, and municipal governments of
the Philippines free from all claims, liabilities, demands, or actions arising out of
accidents causing injury to persons or damage to properties, during the construction
or operation of the stations of the grantee.

SEC. 9. Commitment to Provide and Promote the Creation of
Employment Opportunities. — The grantee shall create employment opportunities
as well as accept on-the-job trainees in their franchise operations: Provided, That
priority shall be accorded to the residents of the place where the principal office of
the grantee is located: Provided, further, That the grantee shall comply with the
applicable labor standards allowance entitlement under existing labor laws, rules and
regulations and similar issuances: Provided, finally, That the employment
opportunities or jobs created shall be reflected in the General Information Sheet
(GIS) to be submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) annually.


SEC. 10. Nontransferability of Franchise. — The grantee shall not lease,
transfer, grant the usufruct of, sell nor assign this franchise or the rights and
privileges acquired thereunder to any person, firm, company, corporation or other
commercial or legal entity, nor merge with any other corporation or entity, nor shall
the controlling interest of the grantee be transferred, whether as a whole or in parts,
simultaneously or contemporaneously, to any such person, firm, company,
corporation, or entity without the prior approval of the Congress of the Philippines.

Congress shall be informed of any sale, lease, transfer, grant of usufruct, or
assignment of franchise or the rights and privileges acquired thereunder, or the
merger or transfer of the controlling interest of the grantee within sixty (60) days
after the completion of the said transaction. Failure to report to Congress such
change of ownership shall render the franchise jpso facto revoked.

Any person or entity to which this franchise is sold, transferred, or assigned,
shall be subject to the same conditions, terms, restrictions, and limitations of this
Act.

SEC. 11. Dispersal of Ownership. — In accordance with the constitutional
provision to encourage public participation in public utilities, the grantee shall offer
to Filipino citizens at least thirty percent (30%) of its outstanding capital stock or a
higher percentage that may hereafter be provided by law in any securities exchange
in the Philippines within five (5) years from the effectivity of this Act: Provided, That
in cases where the public offer or shares is not applicable, other methods of
encouraging public participation by citizens and corporations operating public utilities
must be implemented. Noncompliance therewith shall render the franchise jpso
facto revoked.

SEC. 12. Reportorial Requirement. - The grantee shall submit an annual
report to the Congress of the Philippines, through the Committee on Legislative
Franchises of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Public Services of
the Senate, on its compliance with the terms and conditions of the franchise and on
or before April 30 of every year during the term of its franchise.

The annual report shall include an update on the roll-out, development,
operation or expansion of business; audited financial statements; latest GIS officially
submitted to the SEC, if applicable; certification of the NTC on the status of its
permits and operations; and an update on the dispersal of ownership undertaking, if
applicable.

The reportorial compliance certificate issued by Congress shall be required
before any application for permit or certificate is accepted by the NTC.

SEC. 13. Fine. — Failure of the grantee to submit the requisite annual report
to Congress shall be penalized by a fine of Five hundred pesos (P500.00) per
working day of noncompliance. The fine shall be collected by NTC from the
delinquent franchise grantee separate from the reportorial penalties imposed by the
NTC and the same shall be remitted to the Bureau of Treasury.


SEC. 14. Equality Clause. — Any advantage, favor, privilege, exemption, or
immunity granted under existing franchises, or which may hereafter be granted for
radio and television broadcasting, upon prior review and approval of Congress, shall
become part of this franchise and shall be accorded immediately and unconditionally
to the herein grantee: Provided, That the foregoing shall neither apply to nor affect
the provisions of broadcasting franchises concerning territorial coverage, the term,
or type of service authorized by the franchise.

SEC. 15. Repealability and Nonexclusivity Clause. - This franchise 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 privileges herein provider for.

SEC. 16. Separability Clause. — If any of the sections or provisions of this
Act is held invalid, all other provisions not affected thereby shall remain valid.

SEC. 17. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, resolutions,
instructions, rules and regulations, and other issuances or parts thereof which are
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended, or
modified accordingly.

SEC. 18. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,