Act Protecting Cellphone Users filed in the Congress

By: Maria Laarni Mallari and Jaswinder Singh

Under House Bill 6467, by Representative Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito seeks to “establish minimum quality standards for wireless telephone service.”

The bill aims to make sure that the telecommunication companies would give their subscribers good quality of connection and reception, especially on postpaid plan holders.

In the bill, he cited Article II, Section 24 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which states the importance of proper communication in nation building.

"With the advent of mobile and cellular phones in the early 1980s, people made and received telephone calls without being tied to a specific location,” Ejercito said. “This technological innovation made all transactions easy, faster and affordable,"

Ejercito believes that cellular phones are now becoming a necessity, but telephone companies fail to meet the proper services intended for the users. “Cellular phone companies have failed to cope with the increasing demand for cellular phone services,” Ejercito said.

In addition he said that cellular phone companies have been unsuccessful in handling the growing number of demand for phone services. NTC have received so much complaint on lowly and occasionally deceitful services from these companies.

Under the bill, National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) is required to create a system that will make it easier for subscribers to send their complaints. The commission is also tasked to publicize the complaint system.

Representative of the lone district of San Juan also asked NTC to maintain a toll-free number for the wireless phone subscribers.

NTC was also required to create a database system where they will record all the complaints of the subscribers. The bill also mandates telecommunication companies to present to the congress; every six months, a report on the complaints they received and how many times a complaint is received.

Some of the common complaints in the cellular phone subscribers are dead spots, dropped calls, network busy signals, and improper billing practices

It can be remembered that in 2009, Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile expressed his disappointment on his lost prepaid load. Similar complaints were also filed by Senator Chiz Escudero, Senator Joker Arroyo and then Senator Richard Gordon.