RA 6849

MUNICIPAL TELEPHONE ACT OF 1989

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6849
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE INSTALLATION, OPERATION, AND
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC TELEPHONES IN EACH AND EVERY
MUNICIPALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS
THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:
SECTION 1 : Title
This act shall be known as the "Municipal Telephone Act of 1989."
SECTION 2 : Declaration of National Day Policy
Recognizing that the benefits of modern communication technology
are as important to rural development as they are to urban areas, the
State shall pursue and foster, in an orderly, purposive and vigorous
manner, the interconnection of all municipalities in the country
through the establishment and early realization of a nationwide
network of public calling stations.
SECTION 3: Projects Office
For purposes of administering the provisions of this Act, there is
hereby created a Municipal Telephone Projects Office in the
Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) with the
following functions:
 (a) Develop, in coordination with all other agencies concerned, a plan
for providing public calling stations with technology capable of
voice and data transmission in every municipality and, when
feasible, in such barangay not otherwise served by an existing
telephone exchange using appropriate technology and for this
purpose formulate or cause to be formulated, engineering studies;
 (b) Undertake the implementation of the said plans and programs and
toward this end, to enter into contracts subject to existing laws and
regulations for the procurement of equipment, construction of
facilities and the installation of the system;

(c) Arrange for funding form any source, private, government, foreign
or domestic, including official development assistance, bilateral
and multilateral loans subject to applicable laws and regulations;
 (c) Prescribe and ensure compatibility with minimum standards and
regulations to assure acceptable standards of construction,
maintenance, operation,

(d) personnel training, accounting and fiscal practices for the

municipal telecommunications operators of public calling stations;
 (e) Furnish technical assistance and personnel training programs for
the municipal telecommunications operators of public calling
stations;

(f) Monitor and evaluate local telecommunications and effect system

integration and operations whenever economically and technically
feasible. Provided, however, That the approval of the provincial
government of the province where any or all of the functions above
mentioned are to be discharge is first secured.
SECTION 4: Management of the Projects
Office
A projects Director, who shall be a person of integrity, competence and
experience in technical fields related to the purposes of this Act, shall
be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon the
recommendation of the Secretary of Transportation and
Communications. He shall have the rank, position and emoluments of
an undersecretary.
The Projects Director shall have the following powers and duties;

(a) To execute and administer the plans and projects for the realization
of the policy set forth in this Act;

(b) To direct and supervise the operation and internal administration

of the Projects Office and, for this purpose, to delegate some or any of
his powers and duties to appropriate subordinate officials;
 (c) Subject to the guidelines and policies established by the Secretary of
Transportation and Communications, to appoint and in coordination with the
Department of Budget and Management fix the number and compensation of
officials and employees of the Projects Office, subject to Civil Service Law;
(d) To prepare an annual report on the activities of the Projects Office on or before
the end of the first quarter after the fiscal year completed and to submit a copy
thereof to the President of the Philippines and the Congress of the Philippines;
and
(e) To exercise such other powers and duties that are proper or necessary to carry
out the purposes of this Act as may be vested in him by the Secretary of
Transportation and Communications.
SECTION 5: Rights of First Option
All domestic telecommunications carriers or utilities existing at the time of
the affectivity of this Act, and franchised to service a province or region
WHICH shall have been certified by the National Telecommunications
Commission (NTC) as rendering satisfactory and competent service in its area
of operation, are hereby given, under equal conditions and circumstances, the
first option to provide, install and operate public calling stations or
telephones in provincial communications network which shall be capable of
voice and data transmission and shall be interconnected to the public
switched telephone network or other national transmission facilities.
The intention to exercise the option shall be made specifically in writing to
the Projects Office within six (6) months of the affectivity of this shall indicate
the preferred province and the time frame of development. Private operators
or franchisees of such public calling stations shall be entitled to the same
benefits and privileges enjoyed by those installed and operated by
Government in so far as tax concessions and/or incentives are concerned.
SECTION 6: Frequency Allocation
In order to accelerate the implementation of this project, National
Telecommunication Commission (NTC) is authorized to assign or reassign,
when necessary, existing radio frequency users currently operating.
SECTION 7: Rates and Mandatory Sharing of
Toll Revenue
The NTC, subject to its standard guidelines and in consultation with the
regional development councils concerned, shall fix an equitable, reasonable
and uniform rate of charges for every type of call. A rate schedule shall be set
for all municipal telephone calls under the following classifications:
(a) Municipal to International;

(b) Municipal to Metro Manila, and other domestic long distance calls;

(c) Municipal to Provincial Capital;

(d) Municipal to Municipal;

(1) of the same province
(2) of difference provinces, other than domestic long distance.
In connection with the rates, the National Telecommunications Commission
(NTC), in consultation with the toll network operators or interchange carriers
and the provincial government concerned, shall authorize and cause the
implementation of an equitable toll revenue sharing and collection scheme.
The share of the local exchange operators in toll revenues shall be remitted by
the interchange carries to them within ninety days (90) form receipt.
SECTION 8: Timetable of Implementation
The Projects Office shall install all public calling stations for provinces and
municipalities not covered by private communication utilities under Section 5
hereof, such that each one of the municipalities in the Philippines still
unserved by telephone at the affectivity of this Act, shall have at least one (1)
public calling station or public telephone by the third year of effectively of this
Act. Where resources permit, the Projects Office shall also extend the services
concurrently or subsequently to other remote barangays of the country. The
public calling stations shall be interconnected to the public switched
telephone network or other national transmission facilities, subject to the
technical interconnection standards prescribed by the NTC.
SECTION 9: Operation by Local
Governments
Provinces and municipalities are hereby authorized to set up, operate and
maintain their respective public calling stations or to grant franchise to
private entities for the operation and maintenance of telephone systems
and/or public calling stations: Provided, That the NTC certifies that the
proposed grantee is technically and financially capable of complying with all
the requirements of public services.
SECTION 10: Appropriation
The amount of two hundred million pesos (P200,000,000.00), or so much
thereof as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this Act, shall be
taken from the appropriations provided under Title 1 - Telecommunications
of Executive Order No. 182. In addition, the sum of three hundred million
pesos (P300,000,000.00), or so much thereof in equivalent foreign
currencies as may be necessary, shall be source, in their order of preference,
from foreign grants, concessional loans, official development assistance,
commercial loans, and/or export credits to meet the objective of this Act.
SECTION 11: Official Development
Assistance
The provisions of Executive Order No. 230 of 1986, on the power of the
NEDA Board, and the rules and regulations governing the evaluation and
authorization for the availment of Official Development Assistance
notwithstanding, the municipal telephone program provided for in this Act
shall be eligible for foreign loans and grants without further evaluation by the
NEDA Board, subject to Section 21, Article XII of the Constitution.
TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
SECTION 12: Sunset Clause
The projects Office shall not have a life exceeding ten (10) years from the date
of the approval of this Act and may only be extended by act of Congress. At the
options of the provincial government, the systems operating in each province
shall be turned over to it, except those operating under Section 5 thereof.
SECTION 13: Separability of Provisions
Any portion or provisions of this Act that may be declared unconstitutional
or invalid shall not have the effect of nullifying other portions and provisions
hereof as long as such remaining portions or provisions can still subsist and
be given effect in their entirety.
SECTION 14: Repealing Clause
All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are repealed or modified
accordingly.
SECTION 15: Effectivity
This act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two
(2) national newspapers of general circulation.