Republic Act No. 550

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

Section 1

There is hereby granted to the North Camarines Lumber Co., its successors or assigns, a temporary permit to construct, maintain and operate in the Philippines, at such places as the said company may select, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Industry, private fixed point-to-point and private coastal radio stations for the reception and transmission of wireless messages on radiotelegraphy or radiotelephony, each station to be provided with a radio transmitting apparatus and a radio receiving apparatus.

Section 2

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 3

This temporary permit shall continue to be in force during the time that the Government has not established similar service at the places selected by the grantee: Provided, That the holder of the temporary permit herein granted shall start the operation thereof within one and a half years from the approval of said temporary permit.

Section 4

The grantee, its successors or assigns, shall not engage in domestic business of telecommunications in the Philippines without further special assent of the Congress of the Philippines, it being understood that the purpose of this temporary permit is to secure to the grantee the right to construct, maintain and operate private fixed point-to-point and private coastal radio stations in such places within the Philippines as the interest of the company and of its trade and business may justify.

Section 5

This temporary permit shall not take effect until the Secretary of Commerce and Industry shall have allotted to the grantee the frequencies and wave lengths to be used thereunder, but the grantee, its successors or assigns, may use the international distress frequency of five hundred kilocycles and the high frequency distress frequency of eight thousand two hundred and eighty kilocycles, whenever necessary.

Section 6

No fees shall be charged by the grantee, as the radio stations that may be established by virtue of this Act shall engage in communications regarding the company's business only.

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 stations 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 now existing or hereafter enacted.

Section 10

A special right is hereby reserved to the President of the Philippines on 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

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved, June 17, 1950.