Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

3045

House Bill No.

Introduced by Representatives
DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL ARROYO and GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO

AN ACT
PROTECTING CONSUMERS’ PHONE RECORDS, PROVIDING PENALTIES
THEREFORE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

EXPLANATORY NOTE

It is stated in Article Ill, Section 3, of our Constitution that a person has the right
to privacy. Any unlawful intrusion to a person's home and personal effects is a violation
of this right but this, of course, also includes any person's communication or
correspondence, be it verbal or written. Due to innovations in Information Technology,
this right to privacy has now been extended in scope to include even electronic ways of
communicating,

Such right, although safeguarded by our Constitution, was further strengthened
by the enactment of Republic Act No. 4200 entitled, "An Act to Prohibit and Penalize
Wire Tapping and other related Violations of the Privacy of Communication, and for
other Purposes.” This law passed in 1965 provided protection against individuals who
violated privacy of communication by prohibiting and penalizing wiretapping activities.

This proposed measure seeks to further reinforce a person's right to privacy in
communications and correspondence by providing penalties and additional means to
make difficult the access of consumers’ phone records without their express and proper
authorization.


In light of the reasons stated above, we therefore enjoin our colleagues to ensure
the immediate approval of this measure into law.

DIOSDADO PAGAL ARROYO GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO
Second District, Camarines Sur Second District, Pampanga


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

3045

House Bill No.

Introduced by Representatives
DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL ARROYO and GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO

AN ACT
PROTECTING CONSUMERS’ PHONE RECORDS, PROVIDING PENALTIES
THEREFORE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Protecting
Consumers’ Phone Records Act of 2013.”

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared the policy of the
State to ensure the privacy of communication and correspondence, and to
prohibit the unlawful and illegal use of information gathered in violation of this
Tight, and to prohibit the obtaining of customer information from
telecommunications carriers by false pretenses, and the sale or disclosure of
such records obtained by false pretenses,

SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. — As used in this section, the term -

(1) "IP Enabled Voice Service" — shall mean the provision of real-time 2-
way voice communications offered to the public, or such classes of users
as to be effectively available to the public, transmitted through customer
premises equipment using TCP / IP protocol, or a successor protocol, for
a fee (whether part of a bundle of services or separately) with
interconnection capability such that the service can originate traffic to, or
terminate traffic from, the public switched telephone network.


(2) "Telecommunications Carrier" — means used to transport, engage and
transmit any form of communication to another person or entity.

(3) "Confidential Phone Records Information" means information that -

(a) relates to the quantity, technical configuration, type, destination
location, or amount of use of a service offered by a covered entity,
subscribed to by any customer of that covered entity, and kept by
cor on behalf of that covered entity solely by virtue of the relationship
between that covered entity and customer;

(b) is made available to a covered entity by a customer solely by
virtue of the relationship between that covered entity and the
customer; or

(c) is contained in any bill, itemization, or account statement
provided to a customer by or in behalf of a covered entity solely by
virtue of the relationship between that covered entity and the
customer.

(4) "Covered Entity" — includes any provider of IP-enabled voice service.

(5) "Customer" — means a covered entity, any individual, partnership,
association, joint stock company, trust, or corporation, or authorized
representative of such customer, to whom the covered entity provides a
product or service.

(6) “Wireless Telephone Number Information" - means the telephone
number, electronic address, and any other identifying information by which
a calling party may reach a commercial mobile service customer, and
which is assigned by a commercial mobile service provider to such
customer, and includes the name and address of such customer.

(7) "Wireless Directory Assistance Service" - means any service for
connecting calling parties to a commercial mobile service customer when
such calling parties themselves do not possess the wireless telephone
number information of such customer.

SECTION 4. Unauthorized Acquisition, Use, or Sale of Confidential
Customer Proprietary Network Telephone Information. -

(A) In General - It is unlawful for any person -


(1) to acquire or use the customer proprietary network information
and phone records information of another person without the
persons’ affirmative written consent by -
(1.1.) making false or fraudulent statements or
representations to an employee of a covered entity:

(1.2.) making such false or fraudulent statements or
representations to a customer of a covered entity;

(1.3.) providing a document to a covered entity knowing that
such document is false or fraudulent; or

(1.4.) accessing customer accounts of a covered entity via
the Internet, without prior authorization from the customer to
whom such confidential phone records information relates.

(2) to misrepresent that another person has consented to the
acquisition or use of such other person's customer proprietary
network information and phone records information in order to
acquire such information;

(3) to obtain unauthorized access to the data processing system or
records of a telecommunications carrier or an IP-enabled voice
service provider in order to acquire the customer proprietary
network information and phone records information of one (1) or
more other persons;

(4) to sell, or offer for sale, customer proprietary network
information and phone records information; or

(5) to request that another person obtain customer proprietary
network information and phone records information from a
telecommunications carrier or IP-enabled voice service provider,
knowing that the other person will obtain the information from such
carrier or provider in any manner that is unlawful under this
subsection.

(B) Exceptions. -

(1) Application of Other Laws — This Act does not prohibit any act or
practice otherwise authorized by law, including any lawfully
authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of a law
enforcement agency or the Republic of the Philippines, or an
intelligence agency of the Republic of the Philippines.


(2) Caller ID — Nothing in this Act prohibits the use of caller
identification services by any person to identify the originator of the
telephone calls received by that person.

SECTION 5. Wireless Consumer Privacy Protection. -

(A) A provider of commercial mobile services, or any direct or indirect
affiliate or agent of such a provider, may not provide the wireless
telephone number information of any customer to any wireless directory
assistance service unless the mobile service provider -

(1) provides a conspicuous, separate notice to the customer
informing the customer of the right not to be listed in any wireless
directory assistance service; and

(2) obtains express prior authorization for listing from such
customer, separate from any authorization obtained to provide such
customer with commercial mobile service, or any calling plan or
service associated with such commercial mobile service, and such
authorization has not been subsequently withdrawn.

(B) Publication of Directories Prohibited — A provider of commercial mobile
services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of such a provider, may
not publish, in printed, electronic, or other form, or sell or otherwise
disseminate, an individual's wireless telephone information held by any
wireless directory assistance service, or any portion or segment thereof,
unless the mobile service provider -

(1) provides a conspicuous, separate notice to the customer
informing the customer of the right not to be listed; and

(2) obtains express prior authorization for listing from such
customer, separate from any authorization obtained to provide such
customer with commercial mobile service, or any calling plan or
service associated with such commercial mobile service and such
authorization has been subsequently withdrawn.

(C) No Consumer Fee for Retaining Privacy — A provider of commercial
mobile services may not charge any customer for exercising any of the
rights described under this subsection.

SECTION 6. Right of Action. -

(A) Private Right of Action for Providers -


(4) A telecommunications carrier or IP-enabled voice service
provider may bring a civil action in an appropriate court that meets
applicable requirements relating to venue under the Rules of Court,
and any court in which the carrier or service provider resides or
conducts business -

(1.1.) based on violation of this section or the regulations
prescribed under this section to enjoin such violation;

(1.2.) to recover for actual monetary loss from such a
violation, or to receive Twenty Thousand Pesos
(P20,000,00) in damages for each violation, whichever is
greater; or both

(2) If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated
this section or the regulations prescribed under this section, the
court may, in its discretion, increase the amount of the award to an
amount equal to not more than three times the amount available
under paragraph (1) of this subsection

(8) Private Right of Action for Consumers -

(1) In General — An individual who has been injured as a direct
result of his or her confidential proprietary network information
being obtained, used, or sold in violation of this section may file a
civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction against the person
who caused the injury by violating this section.

(2) Remedies — A court in which such civil action has been brought
may award damages of not more than Twenty Thousand Pesos
(P20,000.00) for each violation of this section with respect to the
plaintiffs customer proprietary network information.

(3) If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated
this section or the regulations prescribed under this section, the
court may, in its discretion, increase the amount of award to not
more than three (3) times the damages determined by the court
under paragraph (2).

(C) Civil Penalty -

(1) In General - Any person who violates this section shall be
subject to a civil penalty of not more than Twenty Thousand Pesos
(P20,000.00) for each violation or each day of a continuing
violation, except that the amount assessed for any continuing


violation shall not exceed a total of amount of Twenty Million Pesos
(P20,000,000.00) or any single act or failure to act.

(2) Separate Violations — A violation of this section with respect to
the customer proprietary network information of one person shall be
treated as a separate violation with respect to the customer
proprietary network information of any other person

SECTION 7. Separability Clause. — If any provision or part thereof, is held
invalid or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or tile provision not otherwise
affected shall remain valid and subsisting.

SECTION 8. Repealing Clause. — Any law, presidential decree or
issuance, executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or
tegulation contrary to, or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby
repealed, modified or amended accordingly.

SECTION 9. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15)
days after its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,