ACT.

3846
Radio Law of the Philippines
 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 or 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 application to
the Secretary of Commerce and Communications at least two
months before the expiration date of the license to be
renewed. The Secretary of Commerce and Communications
shall determine the period for which each license is issued:
Provided, That no license shall be issued for a longer period
than three years.
SECTION 3
The Secretary of Commerce and Communications 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 the 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
licensee 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, transmission 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 productions
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 herein; and he may refuse to admit to
examinations for radio operators' licenses graduates of any
radio school no complying with the regulations;
i. He shall prescribe rates of operators 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 operator licenses, and
for such other services as may rendered;
j. He is hereby empowered to approve or to
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 offenders' station or operator
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 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 of any state or territory
of the United States of America;
Continued …
or to any company or corporation in which
any alien is employed as officer or director;
or to any company or corporation twenty
percent 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 person not being
entitled thereto shall receive, or receiving, any message or
communication and use the same or any information
therein contained for his own benefit or for the benefit of
another not entitled thereto;
Continued …
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
Communications 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 Communications, who is
hereby empowered to include in the general
radio regulations under this Act, regulations
governing radio apparatus compulsory
requited 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:
Continued…
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 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 prohibitory provision of the
regulations prescribed by Secretary of
Commerce and Communications under the Act,
or of any mandatory or prohibitory provision of
the International Radio Regulations, upon
conviction thereof by a court of competent
jurisdictions 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 Communications 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 after approval.

Approved, November 11, 1931.