REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5357 - AN ACT GRANTING PACIFICO C. MARANA A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN AN ICE PLANT AND COLD STORAGE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF TAAL, PROVINCE OF BATANGAS, AND TO SELL ICE AND SUPPLY COLD STORAGE WITHIN THE MUNICIPALITY AND THE MUNICIPALITIES OF LEMERY, SAN NICOLAS, AGONCILLO, STA. TERESITA, SAN LUIS, CALACA, BALAYAN, MABINI, BATANGAS, TUY AND NASUGBU, ALL IN THE PROVINCE OF BATANGAS.

[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5357, June 15, 1968 ]

AN ACT GRANTING PACIFICO C. MARANA A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN AN ICE PLANT AND COLD STORAGE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF TAAL, PROVINCE OF BATANGAS, AND TO SELL ICE AND SUPPLY COLD STORAGE WITHIN THE MUNICIPALITY AND THE MUNICIPALITIES OF LEMERY, SAN NICOLAS, AGONCILLO, STA. TERESITA, SAN LUIS, CALACA, BALAYAN, MABINI, BATANGAS, TUY AND NASUGBU, ALL IN THE PROVINCE OF BATANGAS.

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 to Pacifico C. Marafia, hereinafter referred to as the grantee, a franchise to construct, operate and maintain a hundred-ton maximum capacity ice plant and cold storage in the said Municipality of Taal, Province of Batangas, for the purpose of manufacturing and distributing ice and supplying cold storage in the said municipality and in the municipalities of Lemery, San Nicolas, Sta. Teresita, San Luis, Calaca, Balayan, Mabini, Agoncillo, Batangas, Tuy and Nasugbu, all in the Province of Batangas, and to charge and collect a schedule of prices and rates for the ice and cold storage so furnished which schedule of prices and rates shall at all times be subject to regulation by the Public Service Commission.

SEC. 2. This franchise shall continue for a period of five years from the date said plant is placed in operation and/or commences the manufacture and distribution of ice in the municipalities of Taal, Lemery, Sta. Teresita, San Luis, San Nicolas, Agoncillo, Mabini, Calaca, Balayan, Tuy and Nasugbu, all in the Province Of Batangas, subject to the express condition that this franchise shall be null and void unless the construction of said plant is begun within two years from the date of the approval of this Act and completed within four years from said date, except when prevented by an act of God martial law, riot, civil commotion, usurpation by military power or any other acts of force majeure.

SEC. 3. The apparatus and appurtenances to be used by the grantee shall be modern, safe and first class in every respect, and, whenever the Public Service Commission shall determine that public interest reasonably requires it, the grantee shall change or alter any of the apparatus and appurtenances at his expense.

SEC. 4. The books, records, and accounts of the grantee shall always be open to inspection by the municipal treas­urer 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 past quarter, one of which shall be forwarded by the municipal treasurer to the Auditor General, who shall keep the same on file.

SEC. 5. This franchise is granted subject to the provisions of Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred forty-six, as amended, only with respect to the fixing of rates. In consideration of the franchise hereby granted, the grantee shall pay quarterly into the municipal treasury a tax equivalent of two per centum of the gross earnings derived by the grantee from his operation under this franchise.

SEC. 6. In the event of any competing individual, association of persons, or corporation 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 part of the terms hereof and shall operate equally in favor of the grantee as in the case of said individual, association of persons or corporation.

SEC. 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted without Executive approval, June 15, 1968.