The first private firm in the region to get a license to install, operate, and maintain a tele-phone system in Davao Province was Davao Telephone Company . Passed by the Sen-ate and House of Representatives, its franchise was approved on November 28, 1931, by American governor-general Dwight F. Davis under Act No. 3913.
In detail, the statute specifies and authorizes the company ‘to use all municipal and provincial roads, streets, and public thoroughfares for the construction, maintenance, and operation of all apparatus, conductors, and appliances necessary for the electrical transmission of conversations and signals,’ ‘to erect poles, string wires, build conduits, lay cables,’ and ‘to construct, maintain, and use such other approved and generally accepted means of electrical conduction in, on, over, or under...
There are also oddities in the DTC franchise that can get the attention of today’s observers, such as the legality of making excavations or laying conduits in public places, which were subject to certain conditions if these activities result in disturbance, alteration, or change, repairs and restoration must be done to the satisfaction of the provincial engineer and to leave them in good condition as they were prior to the works.