PHILIPPINE TELECOMMUNICATION STORY AT A GLANCE 1867 - Three members of the telegraph Corps of Spain are dispatched by Royal Order

to the Philippines to put up a telegraph training school and establish a communication system linking all the principal towns and cities in the country. The first telegraph link to be established is between Manila and the island of Corregidor. 1871 Rafael de Isquierdo y Gutierrez assumes the governor-generalship of the Islands. During this administration the countrys first steamship service is opened and more telegraph lines were installed. He is the same governor general who signed the death verdict of the three martyr-priests Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora in 1872. 1872 A Telegraph Practical School is established by Gov. Gen. Isquierdo (March 15). 1878 The Spanish Government in Madrid awards to the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company, an English firm, a 40-year old concession to the lay down a submarine telegraph cable that will link the Philippines with Hongkong, 535 nautical miles away. Cable laying is undertaken by the companys cable ship Calabria. 1880 The Philippine-Hongkong submarine cable, the countrys first overseas telegraph link, is completed. The Philippine end of the cable lands at Bolinao, then part of Zambalesprovince. The system is made available for public telegrams on May 8.

1888 Valeriano Weyler y Nicolao is appointed governor-general. During his administration (1888-1891), the first telephone system and the first street car service (pony-drawn and plying the Manila-Malabon route) are inaugurated.

1889 Gov. Gen. Weyler is instructed by the Madrid Government to authorize the construction of a telephone system in Manila (June 7). 1890 The countrys first telephone system is inaugurated. 1897 Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company, in accordance with a 20-year contract with the Spanish Government and a yearly subsidy of $22,500, lays a submarine cable interconnecting Manila with Capiz, Iloilo, Bacolod, Escalante and Cebu using the company cable ship Sherard Osborne The manila end of the cable lands on an isolated spot in a beach in the Malate district. 1898 Revolutionist from Zambales attacks the cable station at Bolinao. The 160-mile overland cable connecting the Bolinao end of the Philippines-Hongkong cable with Manila is replaced by an undersea cable following frequent cuttings of the aerial cable by the Revolutionary Army. Telegraph service between Manila and Hongkong is interrupted due to the damage of the cable during the Battle of Manila Bay between the American and Spanish naval forces. The line is restored in August 20.

Emilio Aguinaldo, head of the Revolutionary Government, issues a decree officially opening the Philippine telegraph services (November 2) and the postal service (November 10) in areas in Luzon under the jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Government. 1899 The Americans take over control of the Philippines from Spaniards. They establish their own telegraph and telephone systems for the needs of the military. The system consists of 2,400 kilometers of undersea cables and landlines linking the major islands of the country. 1901 A department of posts under the Department of Commerce in the civil government is created. 1902 The Philippine Commission organizes a telegraph division under the Constabulary (September 15). A submarine telegraph cable is laid between Romblon, and Boac, Marinduque, 121 kilometers apart (November 21). The Bureau of Posts is created in accordance with Act 462 of the Philippine Commission.

1903 The first Pacific cable linking Manila with San Francisco, USA, is completed by the Commercial Pacific Cable Company (July 4). US President Theodore Roosevelt and Philippine Governor General William Howard Taft exchange messages to inaugurate the event. 1905 Two Americans, Louis Glass and John Sabin, organize the Philippine Island Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (PITTC). The company starts with 500 telephone subscribers in Manila. 1906 In accordance with the government reorganization law, the telegraph division is transferred from the Constabulary to the Bureau of Posts. Gradual transfer military lines and offices to the Insular Government are to continue up to 1910. Finding the telephone system more difficult to handle than its other services, the Bureau of Posts converts some of its telephone circuits into telegraph circuits. The rest are turned over to certain provincial governments. 1910 The Posts-Telegraph School of the Bureau of Posts is inaugurated. Among its first Filipino instructors are Faustino Navarro, Jesus Alvarez and Petronilo Taracatac. Trainees (called pensionados) in the school are entitled to a monthly allowance of P20 (later increased to P30) each. 1911 At the time close of the 1910-1911 fiscal periods on June 30, 1911, the Bureau of Posts no longer operate any telephone line. 1914 Another telephone system of the PITTC, using a magneto-type switchboard, is established in Iloilo City.

1917 With the development of the governments own internal telecommunications system, the inter-island cable network of Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company is phased out. Eugenio Padua is appointed superintendent of the telegraph division of the Bureau of the Telegraph Division of the Bureau of Posts, the first Filipino o hold such position. 1919 The countrys first wireless (radio) stations are established by the Bureau of Posts in San Jose (Mindoro), Puerto Princesa (Palawan), Jolo (Sulu), Zamboanga, Davao andMalabang (Lanao). Two other stations in Cavite and Corregidor are maintained and operated by the United States Army. The first and only group of Filipino pensionados of the Insular Government graduate from the US Naval Radio Station in Cavite. Selected in a competitive examination conducted by the Posts-Telegraph School, the pensionados are Fidel Gestosani, Diosdado Dizon, Ludovico Banas, Gaudencio Pangan, Juan Alayu, Eleuterio Funes, Jose F.Ditan and Rafale Anonas.

The first automatic telephone system is installed in Manila by PITTC. 1920 The Posts Telegraph School of the Bureau of Posts conducts its first class in wireless (radio) telegraphy with Guillermo Rodil (of Cavite) as instructor. The Philippine Sparks and Postmasters Association, Inc., the first organization of government radio and telegraph operators and postmaster-operators, is organized. 1921 - The Philippine Sparks and Postmasters Association, Inc., under the presidency of Guillermo Rodil is successful in its lobby fort he passage of a law by the 6th Philippine Legislature extending leave privileges to government telegraphists, privileges then already enjoyed by other employees of the government. The new law grants 21 vacation leave and 30 days accrued leave to telecom personnel. 1922 The Bureau of Posts establishes a costal service station using spark transmitters. The stations are located at Iloilo, Palawan, Cebu, Catbalogan, Lucena, Infanta andZamboanga. The coastal stations, many of them manned by Americans, serve the countrys inter-island shipping. Amateur Radio Club of the Philippines (ARCP), the countrys first organization of radio amateurs, is organized. Elected first president is Tomas Rivera. The Philippine Islands Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (PITTC) are dissolved and withdraw business from the Philippines. The Philippine Telephone and Telegraph Corporation are organized and take over the accounts of the PITTC. 1923 Gov. Gen. Francis Burton Harrison issues a regulations governing the Philippine telegraph service. A Radio Commission is composed of an officer of the US Navy, a representative of the US army Signal Corps and Gonzalo Kamantigue of the Bureau of Posts, is created. The Commission is charged with the supervision and implementation of radio regulations in the country.

Radio Broadcasting is introduced in the country. 1924 Gov. Gen. Leonard Wood issues an executive order applying to the Philippines the decisions of the International Radio Telegraph Convention held in London in 1912 as previously recommended by the US Senate and ratified by the President of the United States on February 15, 1913 for the United States and its possessions (January).

Dapitan (in Zamboanga) radio station is established as replacement for the old submarine cable coming from Zamboanguita in Negros to Baliangao (April 13). Negros Telephone Company is established. KZKZ broadcast station of Henry Herman starts broadcasting from the penthouse of the Santos Building on Plaza Sta. Cruz in Manila with a 100-watt transmitter (October). Radio Corporation of the Philippines and Far Eastern Radio (FER) are formed. Philippines Radio Club, the second amateur radio club, is organized. Lt. Haydn P. Roberts of the US Army Signal Corps is elected first president. KZRQ, 1 500-watt broadcast station is established by Eastern Radio (inaugurated in December). 1925 KZKZ is sold to Radio Corporation of the Philippines, which increases its station power to 500 watts. Isaac Beck, owner of I. Beck, Inc., a Department Store on the Escolta in Manila, establishes station KZIB, a 20-watt station (November). (The stations capacity is increased to one kilowatt five years later). Clemente Zamora is contacted by the Bureau of Posts to change some of its spark transmitters to tube transmitters. 1926 The first arc transmitters in the Philippines are installed in Infanta and Cebu. 1927 RCA Communication of the Philippines opens the first radiotelegraph circuit between Manila and San Francisco, USA followed by similar circuits between the Philippines and other countries. Erlanger and Galinger, Inc., establish KZRM, a one kilowatt station (later increased to two kilowatts) and KZEG, a sister station. The Dapitan radio station of the Bureau of Posts is equipped with the new vacuum tube transmitters (April 13). Act 3396 (the first radio law) is enacted (December 5) making it compulsory for all ships of Philippine registry to have radio apparatus installed aboard. Implementation of the law is delegated to a section of the Telegraph Division of the Bureau of Posts.

1928 The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) is incorporated under the provisions of the corporation law of the Philippines (November 28). The Philippine Legislature enacts Act 3495 granting the Robert Company a franchise to province international telegram service (December 8). 1929 The Robert Dollar Company begins operation. 1930 Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company establish its Manila office. Operations of nine telegraph stations of the Bureau of Posts (Manila, Aparri, Laoag, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Davao, Iloilo, Cebu and Tacloban) is turned over temporarily to the Radio Corporation of the Philippines, a private firm, with a view to making the service more efficient. The arrangement lasted only for a few months and the service was subsequently returned to the Bureau of Posts. 1931 Direct radio contact between Zamboanga and Sandakan in North Borneo is established per agreement with the British North Borneo Company. Most of the operators in Sandakan are Chinese. In accordance with the first post-World War II conference of the International telecommunication Union (ITU) held in Atlantic City, USA, call signs of radio broadcasting stations in the Philippines are changed from K to D. The call sign K is assigned to the US and its colonies and possessions only. The Philippine Amateur Radio Association (PARA) is extended recognition as an official member-society of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). 1948 The countrys first modern radio-teletype service is put into operation by the Bureau of Telecommunications between Manila and Cebu. The Government Radio and Telegraph Operators Union (GRATOU) were organized by Tranquilino V. Pascual. (GRATOU is credited with having worked for enactment RA 771, which standardized the salaries and provided for other benefits of government telegraph men). 1949 Globe Wireless establishes the first ground-to-air radio telephone communications for airlines when Pan American World Airways entered into an operating agreement with the company. 1951 In accordance with the provisions of Executive Order No. 392 series of 1951 the Radio Control Division together with the Radio Control Board was transferred to the newly created Department of Public Works and Communications. 1953 The countrys first commercial television station, DZAQ-TV Channel 3 of the Alto Broadcasting System (ABS), owned by Judge Antonio Quirino goes on the air.

1955 BUTEL inaugurates the countrys first social telegram service with President Ramon Magsaysay who marks the 48th birthday anniversary as the first recipient (August). (Originally in English, the telegrams also had Spanish and Tagalog texts the English texts were by Jose T. Tumbukon while the Tagalog texts were prepared by Federico A. Oquindo). RCA Communications introduces telex exchange services between the Philippines and the United States and later from the US to Europe. PLDT introduces microwave communications on short haul basis between two of its exchanges in Luzon. (The network is extended throughout Luzon in 1966,to the Visayas in 1967 and to Mindanao in 1968). 1956 Work starts on the automation of the Government Telephone System. The government floated bonds for the purpose. Globe Wireless and Mackay Radio merge their transmitting and receiving facilities. RA 146 is enacted. The new law abolishes the radio registration fee charged on all radio receivers sets in the country, the main source of the radio broadcasting fund. 1957 The Bureau of Telecommunications installs free GTS public telephones in various public buildings in the City of Manila. (The service is discontinued after only a few weeks on account of a ruling by the General Auditing Office that it violates government auditing regulations). The GTS starts operation of a crossbar type automatic telephone exchange, reportedly the first of its kind in Asia, at the time, at Malacaang Palace. 1958 PLDT terminates its contract with RCA Communications on the operation of the domestic side of the PLDT-RCA jointly operated overseas telephone service even as PLDT warns that it will cut off its trunk line connections with the GTS. A court order restrains the telephone company from carrying out the plan. In accordance with an agreement between the Philippines and Japan, bidding for the five-year requirements of the BUTEL expansion and improvement project is conducted in Tokyo by the Philippines Reparations Commission. Bid winner is the Nippon Electric Company (NEC).

Director Jose S. Alfonso of the Bureau of Telecommunications proposes the conversion of the BUTEL into a commission-type- supervisory body patterned after the Federal Communications Commission of America. In accordance with an agreement between the Bureau of Telecommunications and the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), three telecommunications experts from the national Science Laboratory of the US conduct a survey of the local telecommunications industry. The project is under the auspices of the International Cooperation Administrations (ICA).

1959 Congress enacts RA 2612 authorizing the government to negotiate loans for financing a nationwide telecommunications expansion and improvement program. The Philippines wins a seat in the Administrative Council of the ITU during the Unions Plenipotentiary Conference in Geneva. During the same conference the Philippines submitted a proposal for new methods of generating call signs for use by radio stations of all ITU member-countries. Director of Telecommunications, Jose S. Alfonso suggests seeking the assistance of the ITU technical branch in the implementation of a telecommunicationstraining program in the Philippines. During the year, the Bureau of Telecommunications implements its regionalization plan subdividing the country into eight regional telecommunication regions; inaugurates its inter-provincial telephone service to Vigan (Ilocos Sur), Laoag (Ilocos Norte), Bagued (Abra), and San Fernando (La Union) extending for the first time to these Northern Luzon provincial capitals the benefits of inter-provincial telephone service, initiates a series of talks on the possibility of integrating all communications networks of various government agencies, and reduces the rates of its press telegrams from three centavos to two centavos per word. 1960 The Government Telephone System switches to automatic operation. However, plans to introduce a metered rate system are deferred due to technical defects in the systems French-made equipment. The Republic Act 2963 grants to the Radio Communications of the Philippines Incorporated (RCPI) a franchise to operate commercial radiotelephony, radiotelegraphy, television, coastal and marine communications for international operation. RA 3006 grants a franchise to Philippine Wireless, Inc., to operate commercial telecommunications services within and outside the Philippines. Inter Island Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) puts up channel 13.

1961 Contract within the Nippon Electric Company (NEC) for the procurement of capital goods and technical services needed in the first year requirements of the government telecommunications expansion and improvement projects is finalized. ITU act on the Philippines proposal to put up a national telecommunicationstraining center in Manila. Republic Broadcasting System (RBS) put up channel 7. 1962 Malacaang suspends the implementation of several national projects charged against reparations including the contract of the Bureau of Telecommunications with NEC. The plan of operation of the telecommunications Training Institute is signed in Manila (June 5) by Secretary of Public Works and Communications Brigido M. Valencia

for the Philippines, and Alfredo McKinzie, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) resident representative in the Philippines, for the Untied Nations. Associated Broadcasting Company puts up channel 5. Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation puts up channel 11. RA 4546 grants the Universal Telecommunications System a franchise to operate commercial telecommunications services in the country. The Secretary of Public Works and Communications issues Department Order 41 renaming the Radio Control Division the Radio Control Office (RCO). Former BUTEL Director Jose S. Alfonso puts up the Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (PT&T). (Congressional franchise is given to the firm two years later).

1963 Malacaang lifts the suspension imposed on the BUTEL thus enabling the bureau to start work on its nationwide telecommunications expansion and improvement project. The Telecommunications Training Institute starts operation in Valenzuela, Bulacan. A survey of the Philippine Telecommunications service is undertaken by the International Telecommunications Union through ITU Bangkok. 1964 Senate Bill 644 creating a National Telecommunications Commission and passed by the Fifth Congress is vetoed by President Diosdado Macapagal. Construction of the $150-million trans-Pacific submarine cable is completed. The project is a cooperative effort of KDD of Japan, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Hawaiian Telephone Company, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and RCA Communications of the Philippines. 1965 President Diosdado Macapagal signs Republic Act 4200 (Anti0Telephone Wire Tapping Law) which prohibits and penalizes wire tapping with a penalty of imprisonment from six months to six years. RA 4491 authorizes the merger of Globe Wireless and Mackay Radio (June 19) as RA 4630 authorizes the change of name of Globe Wireless, Ltd., to Globe Mackay Cable and Radio Corporation (June 19). 1966 Director Antonio C. Gamboa Jr., of the Bureau of Telecommunications urges the government to initiate the establishment of a factory to manufacture telecommunications equipment spare parts with $1-million as capital base. GTS Inter-provincial telephone service between Manila and Aparri, Cagayan is opened to public service.

Another bill proposing the creation of a National Telecommunication Commission is filed in Congress by Rep. Jose C. Aquino of Agusan. The proposed Commission will have jurisdiction over wire and wireless telecommunications public and private. The coaxial cable system between Manila and Hongkong via Guam is opened to public service. The Philippines joins the International Telecommunication Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT). The Philippine Communications Satellite Corporation (PHILCOMSAT) is incorporated (December). The Manila-Baguio City microwave link of the Bureau of Telecommunication is established.

1967 An interim communications satellite earth station of PHILCOMSAT a government corporation, and operated by the Philippine Overseas Telecommunication Corporation (POTC), a private entity, is inaugurated in Barrio Pinugay, Tanay Rizal, making Philippines the first Southeast Asian Country to operate such a station (April). Final stage of the Southeast Asia Commonwealth Cable (SEACOM) interconnecting Guam and Hogkong is completed. The cable interconnects with the trans-Pacific cable at Guam thus facilitating the country is linked with Guam via the Trans-Pacific cable. A survey of the countrys telecommunications services, both government and private, is undertaken jointly by the Bureau of Telecommunications and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Another survey of the local telecommunications industry is undertaken by the International Telecommunications Union through ITU Bangkok. The 27th meeting of the Interim Committee Satellite Communication Consortium (INTELSAT), held in Washington D.C., USA approves the Philippine application to operate a permanent earth station. ITT-Globe Mackay Cable and Radio Corporation inaugurate its $3.5 million Pentacota automatic telex-switching center in Manila. Color television is introduced into the country. Control of PLDT passes into Filipino hands when General Telephone and Electric Corporation of New York, which previously held the controlling stocks of the company, relinquished control in favor of a Filipino group headed by Ramon Cojuangco. 1968 The countrys permanent earth station is inaugurated in Pinugay, Tanay Rizal (May 2).

The Telecommunications development Board is created in accordance with Presidential Administrative Order No. 130 (June 18). The country observes the first National Electronics and Telecommunications Week (July 22-28) in accordance with Proclamation No. 382 dated April 15, 1968. The Bureau of Telecommunications inaugurates its Manila-Baguio Telex circuit, the first domestic telex system to be in commercial operation in the country (August 8). The Ilocos Sur automatic telephone system, part of the nationwide telecommunications expansion and improvement project of the Bureau of Telecommunications is inaugurated in Vigan. 1969 The Philippine Electronics And Telecommunications Federation (PETEF), an organization of electronics and telecommunications organizations, agencies and companies, both government and private, is organized (March 14). Elected first president is Dr. Wigberto P. Clavecilla. The Philippine joins the rest of the world in the observance of the first World Telecommunication Day (May 17). The first domestic trophosperic scatter system to be commercially operated is inaugurated between Manila and Cebu by the Bureau of Telecommunications (May 30). The Philippine-Taiwan tropospheric scatter link is inaugurated (July 21). Nine automatic telephone exchanges of the Bureau of Telecommunications Government Telephone System, financed through Japanese, reparations, are inaugurated (October 24). Philippines-Japan television link inaugurated. Dr. Wigberto P. Clavecilla, PETEF President, is elected one of the vicepresidents of the Asia Electronics Union (AEU), Asias highest electronics body, during the Unions first general assembly held in Taipei, Taiwan. During the Conference it was announced that the next Asia Electronics Conference and General Assembly of the AEU will be held in Manila. In accordance with President Proclamation No. 615 dated September 25, 1969, observance of the annual National Electronics and Telecommunications Week is transferred from July 22-28 to the first week of December of every year. Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS) buys the facilities of Channel 9 from ABSCBN. 1970 Newly installed telex facilities of the Bureau of Telecommunications at the Post Office Building in Manila are destroyed by fire (January 15). Cabanatuan City telephone exchange (part of the BUTEL nationwide expansion and improvement project) is inaugurated (January 31).

The Bureau of Telecommunications transfers its administrative offices to its own building in Quezon City. Only the Central Telegraph Exchange remains at the fourth floor of the Post Office Building in Manila. 1971 PLDT announces the inauguration of direct telephone service between the Philippines, Spain, Italy and Germany via communications satellite. In the past, the countrys telephone links with these places were routed via the United States. PHILCOMSAT inaugurates its second antenna facing the Indian Ocean communications satellite (INTELSAT IV). (December 1).

The 6th Asia Electronics Conference and 2nd General Assembly of the Asia Electronics Union are held in Manila (December 1-7), with Dr. Clavecilla, PETEF President and AEU president-elect as conference chairman. The conference is hosted by PETEF with financial support from the government (Bureau of Telecommunications).

1972 Direct telephone service via satellite are established with the United Kingdom (February 8), France (March 15), and Singapore.

President Ferdinand Marcos issues Presidential Proclamation No. 1081 proclaiming Martial Law throughout the country (September 21).

As provided under Presidential Decree No. 1 issued by the Martial Law regime providing for the implementation of an Integrated Reorganization Plan of the Government, the Radio Control Office is placed under the new Department of Public Works Transportation and Communications. A Board of Communications is also created as one of the specialized regulatory boards under the new department.

1973 Studies are conducted regarding a proposal to integrate the communications and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

A three-man committee composed of Defense Secretary Juan Ponce-Enrile, DPWTC Secretary David M. Consunji and Dr. Wigberto P. Clavecilla, President Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, is created to undertake studies on the integration of all telecommunications systems in the country, both public and private ((February 13).

President Marcos issues Presidential Decree No. 217 authorizing public participation in telephone utility ownership through a Subscriber Investment Plan (SIP). Under the SIP a subscriber becomes a assured of dividends of 10% of his investment per annum.

1974 Direct Manila-Madrid satellite communication link is inaugurated. Direct Manila-Paris communication link is inaugurated. Memorandum of agreement for feasibility study project for the eventual establishment and continued operation of a Philippine Electronics and Telecommunications Research Center is signed at the Elks Club in Makati by Gen Florencio Medina (ret.), chairman, National Science Development Board; and Rosauro Calupitan, president, Philippine Electronics and Telecommunications Federation (April 28). The Radio Control Office is expanded and renamed Telecommunications Control Bureau of Posts. (October). Globe Mackay Cable and Radio makes its employees part-owner of the company and transfers 60% of its stocks to Filipino investors. The company is the first international record carrier to have its shares listed in the major Philippines stock exchange.

1975 Broadcast Media Council is created. International telecommunications companies operating in the country are Filipinized on the 60-40 ratio. 1976 In accordance with the government policy on telecommunications, BUTEL starts the relocation of its GTS exchange from areas already served by the private sector to other places without such service. A memorandum of Agreement is signed on December 17 between Eastern Telecommunications Philippines, Inc., and the Telecommunications Authority of Singapore for the establishment of a submarine cable system linking the Philippines and Singapore. The OLUHO (Okinawa-Luzon-Hongkong) cable systems, reportedly the longest submarine cable system in Southeast Asia and Eastern Pacific is jointly by Eastern Telecommunications Philippines, Inc., Cable and Wireless of London, and KDP of Japan.

1978 The domestic satellite communications system of the Domestic Satellite Philippines, Inc., (DOMSATPHIL) becomes operational. The system leases a transponder from Indonesias PALAPA communication satellite.

The Philippines-Singapore submarine cable systems were inaugurated (October 3). Globe Mackay Cable and Radio introduces international data transfer service to members of the print and broadcast media.

1979 The President issues Executive Order No. 546 creating a Ministry of Public Works and a Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) shall have under it the Bureau of Land Transportation (BLT), Bureau of Air Transportation (BAT), Bureau of Telecommunications (BUTEL), Bureau of Posts (BOP), and the National Telecommunications Commission (a merger of the Communications). Also attached to the MOTC are the Philippines National Railways (PNR), Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), Philippines Aerospace Development Corporation (PADC) and the Metro Manila Transit Corporation (MMTC).

1980 PLDT acquires the Republic Telephone Company (RETELCO). NTC promulgates the guidelines on PBX interconnections. The Taiwan-Luzon (TAILU) cable system is inaugurated (March). The system replaces the tropospheric scatter system (inaugurated in 1969) linking two places. The cable system provides 480 telephone circuits and covers a distance of 550 nautical miles from the cable head at Currimao in Ilocos Norte province in Luzon to Toucheng, Taiwan.

1981 Gen. Ceferino S. Carreon director of the Bureau of Telecommunications, and Junichi Ikejima, head of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), sign the record of discussions for the expansion of the Telecommunications Training Institute of the Bureau of Telecommunications (April 2). Gen. Ceferino S. Carreon, Commissioner, National Telecommunications Commission and concurrently president of the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) during that organizations management committee meeting held in Bangkok for a three-year term.

1982 The Philippines wins a seat in the Administrative Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) during the Unions plenipotentiary conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The Administrative Council is considered the most important ITU body whose main functions are to administer the affairs of the Union between plenipotentiary conferences and the preparation of the budget of that specialized agency of the United Nations.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications issues Ministry Circular No. 82-146 which promulgates the ministry policy on telecommunications technology applications (March).

1983 The expanded Telecommunications Training Institute project, a cooperative project of the governments of the Philippines and Japan, starts operation in Valenzuela, Metro Manila (February 22). Pres. Marcos approves the transfer of the observance of National electronics and Telecommunications Week from the first week of December of each year to May 11-17 to coincide with annual celebration of World Telecommunications Day (May 17) declared by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

1984 Gen. Carreon is elected vice president of the Administrative Council of the ITU during the 9th meeting of that council, held in Geneva in April, the first Filipino to be elected to that world organization. He is also elected vice chairman of the World Plan Committee of the International Consultative Committee of Telegraph and Telephone (CCITT) of the ITU (Washington DC; October); and re-elected president of the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (for another three years) during the APT meeting in Seoul, Korea (November).

1985 Phase A of the Regional (Rural) Telecommunications Development Project of the Bureau of Telecommunications for Regions 1 and 2 is inaugurated (September). Gen. Carreon assumes the presidency (for a term of one year) of the Administrative Council of the ITU (July).

1986 A peaceful Peoples Revolution forces former President Marcos and his family together with his former AFP chief of Staff and several close associates to flee the country bringing along with them enspecified amounts in cash and jewelry and many valuable documents. President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, widow of former Senator Benigno S. Aquino who was murdered at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport in August 1983 upon his return from a three-year self-exile abroad, is installed as the new President of the Philippines.

1987 President Aquino issues Executive Order No. 125 (January 30) reorganizing the Ministry of Transportation and Communications changing its name to Department of Transportation and Communications. The National telecommunications Commission is designated an attached agency to the department while the BUTEL is designated a

staff bureau and renamed Telecommunications Office (TELOF), its director designated assistant secretary for telecommunications.

1988 Globe Mackay Cable and Radio Corporation (GMCR) and two retirement funds (BPI Retirement Fund and Ayala Employees Welfare Retirement Fund) acquire the ClavecillaRadio System. GMCR acquired 38% of Clavecillas outstanding shares while the two retirement funds acquired 31% each. PLDT inaugurates its cellular mobile telephone network, the countrys first.

1990 The Guam-Philippines-Taiwan (GPT) fiber optic cable, part of the new TransPacific Submarine cable system, is inaugurated (February 1).