Ornate
»(tt»f & iirtip
TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE ] 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
]
25 AUG -7 PI 26
SENATE
s.B. No. 1Q95
RECEIVE! tV:
Introduced by SEN. WIN GATCHALIAN
AN ACT
PROHIBITING ALL PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENTITIES AND 
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERS FROM 
IMPOSING AN EXPIRATION PERIOD ON THE VALIDITY OF PREPAID LOAD
CREDITS AND THEIR FORFEITURE
EXPLANATORY NOTE
This legislation seeks to eliminate the expiration and forfeiture of all 
denominations of prepaid load credits. It will have an impact on 175,074,174 prepaid 
subscribers, representing 97.4% of the total number of mobile subscribers1 in the 
country as of the first quarter of 2025, who are at risk of losing their hard-earned 
prepaid load credits due to inactivity or non-usage before the expiration period.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the Department of 
Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the Department of Trade 
and Industry (DTI), pursuant to their respective mandates, promulgated Joint 
Memorandum Circular No. 05-12-2017 on December 20, 2017.2 It prescribed the 
validity of prepaid load credits of all information and communications technology (ICT) 
providers and public telecommunications entities (PTEs) with a denomination of
1 National Telecommunications Commission, March 2025 estimates.
2 Prescribing a One (1) Year Expiration Period for Prepaid Loads.


PhP300 and above to one year effective starting January 5, 2018. The following were 
excluded from its coverage: (1) prepaid load purchased for promos and (2) bucket of 
services with specific period of use duly approved by the DTI and/or the NTC.
The 2017 circular amended Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 03-07-2009 or the 
"Guidelines on Prepaid Loads" which provided for the expiration periods of prepaid 
load depending on the amount of credits purchased, with higher credits corresponding 
to longer validity periods. Considering that more than 90% of the costs of the networks 
are fixed, the carrying cost per subscriber decreases as the subscribers multiply,3 
allowing PTEs and ICT providers to extend the validity periods of prepaid load without 
incurring considerably higher costs or immense financial losses.
The number of prepaid subscribers has more than doubled from approximately 
75 million in 2009, when MC No. 03-07-2009 was issued, to 175 million in the first 
quarter of 2025 alone, a clear indication of how the prepaid call and text industry has 
penetrated the everyday lives of consumers in the Philippines, effectively making 
prepaid load an essential commodity. Maintaining a system that enforces the 
expiration of prepaid credits purchased with consumers' hard-earned money compels 
them to use their prepaid load unnecessarily, simply to avoid forfeiture and prevent 
being left with zero balance, resulting in a waste of the consumer's funds, but a gain 
for public telecommunications entities (PTEs) and the ICT providers.
This bill seeks to prohibit the imposition of an expiration period on the validity 
of all denominations of prepaid load credits, whether purchased through prepaid card 
or electronic loading, as well as the eventual forfeiture of such credits in active prepaid 
accounts. Every peso spent by the consumer to purchase prepaid load credits must 
remain usable until fully consumed. By safeguarding the value of each peso, the 
telecommunications industry can play a vital role in advancing the mobile economy, 
bringing the benefits of rapid technological innovation and digital revolution within
3 NTC-DICT-DTI Joint Memorandum Circular No. 05-12-2017.
2


reach of the poor and disadvantaged, and thereby fostering more inclusive and 
prosperous societies.
In view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this^ea^e is earnestly
sought.
GATQHAL


TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE ] 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ] 
First Regular Session 
]
S.B. No.
SENATE
1095
Senate
ol tl)f
25 AUG “7 PI 37
RECEIVE# BV;
Introduced by SEN. WIN GATCHALIAN
AN ACT
PROHIBITING ALL PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENTITIES AND 
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERS FROM 
IMPOSING AN EXPIRATION PERIOD ON THE VALIDITY OF PREPAID LOAD
CREDITS AND THEIR FORFEITURE
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines 
in Congress assembled:
1 
SECTION 1. Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Prepaid Load Forever Act."
2
3 
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is hereby declared the policy of the State to
4 
recognize the vital role of information and communications technology in nation-
5 
building. It likewise recognizes the primary role of the private sector as an engine of
6 
economic growth and guarantees the right of individuals and private entities to own,
7 
establish, and operate economic enterprises. However, as the Constitution provides
8 
that the use of property bears a social function, the right of private entities is subject
9 
to the duty of the State to intervene when the common good so requires - including
10 
protecting the interest of consumers, promoting their general welfare, and
11 
establishing standards of conduct of business and industry. Towards this end, the
12 
State shall implement measures to protect the consumer against unfair and


1 
unconscionable sales acts and practices, and provide information and education to
2 
facilitate sound choice and proper exercise of consumer rights.
3
4 
SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:
5 
a. Active Prepaid A ccount refe rs to a number with any activity involving voice,
6 
short messaging system (SMS) or text, mobile data, value added services
7 
(VAS), or any other telecommunications service;
8 
b. Dormant Prepaid Account to a number without any activity involving
9 
voice, short messaging system (SMS) or text, mobile data, value added
10 
services (VAS), or any other telecommunications service within a period of
11 
one year;
12 
c. Information and Communications Technology or ICT refers to the totality
13 
of electronic means to access, create, collect, store, process, receive,
14 
transmit, present, and disseminate information;
15 
d. ICT Provider refers to any entity in the ICT sector, which includes
16 
telecommunications and broadcast information operators, ICT equipment
17 
manufacturers, multimedia content developers and providers, ICT solution
18 
providers, internet service providers, ICT training institutions, software
19 
developers, and ICT-ES providers;
20 
e. Prepaid Load Creditro^exs to the monetary value or the consumable amount
21 
that a subscriber purchases in advance, whether through prepaid card or
22 
electronic load, to enable the use of telecommunications services such as
23 
voice, SMS, and data;
24 
f. Prepaid subscription refers to the subscription wherein credit is purchased
25 
in advance of service use. The purchased credit is used to pay for mobile
26 
phone services at the point the service is accessed or consumed. If there is
27 
no available credit, then access to the requested service is denied.
28


1 
g. Prepaid Subscriber vefers to any person, natural or juridical, who avails or
2 
purchase in advance for telecommunications services from a public
3 
telecommunications entity and/or information and communications
4 
technology provider by purchasing credit in advance of service use. Such
5 
prepaid credit is deducted at the time the service is accessed or consumed,
6 
serving as payment for the corresponding service;
7 
h. Public Telecommunications Entity or PTE refers to any duly authorized
8 
public telecommunications entity that offers voice, short messaging system
9 
(SMS) or text, mobile data, value added services (VAS), or any other
10 
telecommunications services to the public for a fee; and
11 
i. Telecommunications refers to any process which enables a
12 
telecommunications entity to relay and receive voice, data, electronic
13 
messages, written or printed matter, fixed or moving pictures, words, music
14 
or visible or audible signals, or any control signals of any design and for any
15 
purpose by wire, radio, or other electromagnetic, spectral, optical, or
16 
technological means.
17
18 
SEC. 4. Prohibited Acts. - The following shall constitute prohibited acts of any
19 
PTE or ICT provider and are hereby declared to be unlawful;
20 
a. Imposition of an expiration period on the validity of unused prepaid load
21 
credits, whether purchased via prepaid card or electronic load;
22 
b. Forfeiture of such prepaid load credits on an active prepaid account, save
23 
for the purpose of availing of the mobile number portability service; and
24 
c. Refusal to give a refund to any prepaid subscriber whose load credits were
25 
forfeited without any valid cause.
26 
In view of paragraph (b), a prepaid account that has become dormant shall be
27 
deducted one peso for every day of inactivity from its remaining load credits until such
28 
credits are fully consumed. The prepaid subscriber must be notified of the deduction
29 
made.


1 
SEC. 5. Pena! Provision. - Any director, officer, employee, or agent of a PTE or
2 
ICT provider providing prepaid telecommunications services who shall violate any of
3 
the acts mentioned under Section 4 hereof shall, upon conviction, be subject to the
4 
penalty of a fine of not less than One Hundred Thousand Pesos (PhPlOO,000.00) but
5 
not to exceed One Million Pesos (PhPl,000,000.00), or imprisonment of not less than
6 
two (2) years but not more than six (6) years, or both, upon the discretion of the
7 
court.
8 
If the violation was committed by or in the interest of a juridical person duly
9 
licensed to engage in business in the Philippines, the following penalties shall be
10 
imposed on the juridical entity:
11 
a. First offense - a fine of Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (PhP500,000.00);
12 
b. Second offense - a fine of One Million Pesos (PhPl,000,000.00) plus
13 
suspension of license to engage in business for a period of thirty (30) days;
14 
and
15 
c. Third offense - a fine of Two Million Pesos (PhP2,000,000.00) plus
16 
immediate revocation of license to engage in business.
17
18 
SEC. 6. Impiementing Ruies and Reguiations (IRR). - Within ninety (90) days
19 
from the effectivity of this Act, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)
20 
shall coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications Technology
21 
(DICT) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to promulgate rules and
22 
regulations and other issuances as may be necessary to ensure the effective
23 
implementation of this Act, including the issuance of proper and adequate information
24 
dissemination of its contents and benefits to the general public.
25 
The IRR issued pursuant to this Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
26 
publication in a newspaper of general circulation.
27


1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 
9
10
11
SEC. 7. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is held invalid or 
unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected thereby shall remain in full force 
and effect.
SEC. 8. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, 
rules and regulations, and issuances, or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the 
provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.
SEC. 9. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation in the 
Philippines.
Approved,