[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4803, June 18, 1966 ]
AN ACT GRANTING TAYABAS ICE PLANT AND COLD STORAGE A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN AN ICE PLANT AND COLD STORAGE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF TAYABAS, PROVINCE OF QUEZON, AND TO SELL ICE AND TO SUPPLY COLD STORAGE THEREIN AND IN ITS NEIGHBORING MUNICIPALITIES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
SECTION 1. Subject to the conditions imposed by this Act, there is hereby granted for a period of twenty-five years to Tayabas Ice Plant and Cold Storage, hereinafter referred to as the grantee, a franchise to construct, operate and maintain an ice plant and cold storage in the Municipality of Tayabas, Province of Quezon, for the purpose of manufacturing and distributing ice and supplying cold storage therein and in its neighboring municipalities, and to charge and collect a schedule of prices and rates for the ice and cold storage so furnished, which shall at all times be subject to the regulations of the Public Service Commission or its legal successor.
SEC. 2. Said grantee shall manufacture and supply ice up to the limit of the capacity of its plant, said limit to be determined by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor in such certificate of convenience and public necessity as may be issued by it, as provided by Section four of this Act.
SEC. 3. All the apparatus and appurtenances to be used by the grantee shall be modern, safe, and first class in every respect, and the grantee shall, whenever the Public Service Commission or its legal successor determines that public interest reasonably requires it, change or alter any of its apparatus and appurtenances at grantee's expense.
SEC. 4. The grantee shall not exercise any right or privilege under this franchise nor commence any construction thereunder, unless and until the grantee shall first file with the Public Service Commission within six months from the date of approval of this Act:
(1) Its written acceptance of the terms and provision of this Act;If the grantee shall not commence the manufacture and distribution of ice and the supplying of cold storage in the places referred to in the certificate of convenience and public necessity, obtained and filed as herein provided, within such period as the Public Service Commission or its legal successor shall have fixed, unless prevented by an act of God or force majeure, martial law, riot, civil commotion, usurpation by a military power or any other cause beyond the grantee's control, said commission or its legal successor may, in its discretion, declare such certificate null and void, and the deposit or deposits made by the grantee forfeited in favor of the National Government.
(2) Its written acceptance of the terms and conditions of the certificate of convenience and public necessity required by law for the granting of this franchise and issued by the Public Service Commission in the form and character provided for in Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and forty-six, as amended; and
(3) A document or documents evidencing receipt by the Treasurer of the Philippines of the deposit or deposits required by law for such certificate of convenience and public necessity as an earnest proof of good faith and guaranty that the grantee shall complete the work within the period to be fixed by the Commission.
SEC. 5. After grantee's compliance with the requirements of the next preceding section, the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, by proper order or writ, shall authorize the construction of necessary work for the purposes of this franchise within a reasonable time be determined by the said Commission.
Upon determination by the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, after a reasonable written notice to the grantee and a hearing, that the grantee has violated any of the provision of this section as to the commencement and/or completion of work authorized by the certificate of convenience and public necessity, the said Commission or its legal successor shall declare the bond or bonds forfeited not as a penalty but as liquidated damages to the National Government. The said Commission or its legal successor shall order return of the deposit as aforestated, together with any work authorized by its certificate of convenience and public necessity, in accordance with the terms and conditions of said certificate, and the Treasurer of the Philippines shall return said deposit to the grantee together with said interest and/or dividends immediately upon presentation to him of a certified copy of .such order of the Public Service Commission or its legal successor.
SEC. 6. This franchise is granted subject to the provisions of the Constitution, Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred forty-six as amended, and Act Numbered Fourteen hundred and fifty-nine, as amended; and with the understanding and upon the condition that it shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the Philippines when public interest so requires. The Public Service Commission shall provide, as a condition for the issuance of the certificate of convenience and public necessity, that the certificate shall be valid only for a definite period of time and that violation of any conditions shall cause the immediate cancellation of the certificate without the necessity of any express action on the part of the Commission.
SEC. 7. The books, records and accounts of the grantee shall always be open for the inspection of the municipal treasurer of the Municipality of Tayabas, Province of Quezon, or his authorized representatives, and it shall be the duty of the grantee to submit to the municipal treasurer quarterly reports in duplicate showing the gross receipts for the quarter past, one of which shall be forwarded by the municipal treasurer to the Auditor General who shall keep the same on file.
SEC. 8. The grantee, upon prior approval of the Congress of the Philippines, may sell, lease, grant, convey, assign, give in usufruct, or transfer this franchise am all properties and rights acquired thereunder to any individual, co-partnership, private public or quasi-public association, corporation, or joint stock company qualified under the Constitution and competent to operate the business hereby authorized, but transfer of title to the franchise or any right of ownership or interest acquired under such sale, lease, grant, conveyance, assignment, gift in usufruct, or transfer shall not be effective even after such approval .shall have been obtained until there shall have been filed with the Public Service Commission or its legal successor an agreement in writing by which the individual, co-partnership, private, public or quasi-public association, corporation, or joint stock company, in whose favor such sale, lease, grant, conveyance, assignment, gift in usufruct or transfer, is made, shall be firmly bound to comply with all the terms and conditions imposed upon the grantee by this franchise and by any and all certificates of convenience and public necessity heretofore issued the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, and to accept the same subject to all existing terms and conditions.
SEC. 9. The Public Service Commission or its legal successor shall have the power, after a reasonable written notice to the grantee and of hearing of the interested parties, to declare the forfeiture of this franchise all rights inherent in the same for failure on the part of the grantee to comply with any of the terms and conditions hereof, unless such failure shall have been directly and primarily caused by an act of God, force majeure, usurped right, uprising or other cause beyond the control of the grantee. Against such declaration or forfeiture of the Public Service Commission or its legal successor, the grantee may apply for the remedies provided in Sections thirty-four and thirty-six of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred forty-six, as amended. The remedy provided herein shall not be a bar to any other remedy provided by existing laws for the forfeiture of this franchise.
SEC. 10. In the event of any competing individual, association of persons, or corporations receiving from the Congress of the Philippines a similar franchise in which there shall be any term or terms more favorable than those herein granted or tending to place the herein grantee at any disadvantage, then such term or terms shall ipso facto become a part of the terms hereof and shall operate equally in favor of the grantee as in the case of said competing individual, association of persons, or corporation.
SEC. 11. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved, June 18, 1966.