REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNO. 3627

Introduced by Representatives Enrico A. Pineda

and Michael Odylon L. Romero, PI

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The advent of the Hello Garci controversy did not only expose the
propensity of the people in power to perpetuate themselves in office through
election rigging, but more importantly, it exposed the reality that our lines of
communication are never secured from the prying eyes or ears of certain
personalities whose motives, though doubtful, are certainly evil.

We can never live in a society of limited freedom where we are always
mindful that what we say or do are being watched. Privacy is a guaranteed right
and our laws should be designed to facilitate if not protect the same. But it must
be done in harmony with the need to secure public order and the safety of the
general public. In this light, this bill proposes to increase the penalties for acts
violating one’s privacy and likewise, widens the scope of criminal acts where
wiretapping may be allowed so as a much secure and safe society may be
guaranteed.

This measure also proposes to update the description of wiretapping
equipment which was limited then to an era more than fifty years ago. Moreso,
this proposal recognizes that these monitoring and recording technologies are
readily available to public telecommunication entities, thus, this measure looks to
prohibit them from keeping records of voice and data communications passing
through their system thereby making said act criminal.

Early passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

ENRICO A. PINEDA IDYLON L. ROMERO, PH.D,


REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNO. 3627

Introduced by Representatives Enrico A. Pineda
and Michael Odylon L. Romero, Ph.D.

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

AN ACT
AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4200 OTHERWISE KNOWN AS
“AN ACT TO PROHIBIT AND PENALIZE WIRE TAPPING AND OTHER
RELATED VIOLATIONS OF THE PRIVACY OF COMMUNICATION",
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Sec, 1. Section 1 of Republic Act No. 4200 otherwise known as An Act to prohibit
and Penalize Wire Tapping and Other Related Violations of the Privacy of
Communication is hereby amended to read as follows;

“Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any person, not being authorized
by all the parties to any [private communication or spoken word, to
tap any wire or cable, or by using any other device or arrangement,
to secretly overhear, intercept, or record such communication or
spoken word by using a device commonly known asa dictaphone or
dictagraph or dictaphone or walkie-talkie or tape recorder, or
however otherwise described] ORAL, WIRE, RADIO, DIGITAL
OR ELECTRONIC PRIVATE COMMUNICATION, TO TAP,
INTERCEPT OR RECORD SUCH COMMUNICATION WITH
THE USE OF ANY ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL OR OTHER
SIMILAR DEVICE.

It shall also be unlawful for any person, be he a participant or not in
the act or acts penalized in the next preceding sentence, to knowingly
possess any tape record, wire record, disc record, or any other such
record, or copies thereof, of any [communication or spoken word]
ORAL, WIRE, RADIO, DIGITAL OR ELECTRONIC PRIVATE
COMMUNICATION secured either before or after the effective
date of this Act in the manner prohibited by this law; or to replay the
same for any other person or persons; or to communicate the
contents thereof, either verbally or in writing, or to furnish
transcriptions thereof, whether complete or partial, to any other
person: Provided, That the use of such record or any copies thereof as
evidence in any civil, criminal investigation or trial of offenses
mentioned in section 3 hereof, shall not be covered by this
prohibition.”


Sec. 2. Section 2 of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows;

“Section 2. Any person who willfully or knowingly does or who
shall aid, permit, or cause to be done any of the acts declared to be
unlawful in the preceding section or who violates the provisions of
the following section or of any order issued thereunder, or aids,
permits, or causes such violation shall, upon conviction thereof, be
punished by imprisonment for not less [than six months or more
than six years] SIX YEARS OR MORE THAN TWELVE YEARS
AND A FINE OF ONE MILLION PESOS (P1,000,000.00), and with
the accessory penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification from
public office if the offender be a public official at the time of the
commission of the offense, and, if the offender is an alien he shall be
subject to deportation proceedings AFTER SERVICE OF

SENTENCE.”

Sec. 3, Section 3 of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows;

“Section 3. Nothing contained in this Act, however, shall render it

unlawful or punishable for any peace officer, who

is authorized by a

written order of the Court, to execute any of the acts declared to be
unlawful in the two preceding sections in cases involving the crimes
of treason, espionage, provoking war and disloyalty in case of war,
piracy, mutiny in the high seas, rebellion, conspiracy and proposal
to commit rebellion, inciting to rebellion, sedition, conspiracy to
commit sedition, inciting to sedition, kidnapping as defined by the
Revised Penal Code, [and] violations of Commonwealth Act No. 616,
punishing espionage and other offenses against national security,
DRUG TRAFFICKING AS PENALIZED UNDER REPUBLIC ACT
NO. 9165, HUMAN TRAFFICKING AS DEFINED UNDER
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9208, ILLEGAL RECRUITMENT AS
DEFINED UNDER  : Provided, That such written order shall only be
issued or granted upon written application and the examination
under oath or affirmation of the applicant and the witnesses he may
produce and a showing: (1) that there are reasonable grounds to
believe that any of the crimes enumerated hereinabove has been
committed or is being committed or is about to be

committed: Provided, however, That in cases involving the offen:

rebellion, conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion, inciting to
rebellion, sedition, conspiracy to commit sedition, [and] inciting to
sedition, DRUG TRAFFICKING, HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND
ILLEGAL RECRUITMENT, such authority shall be granted only
upon prior proof that a rebellion or acts of sedition, as the case may
be, have actually been or are being committed; (2) that there are
reasonable grounds to believe that evidence will be obtained
essential to the conviction of any person for, or to the solution of, or
to the prevention of, any of such crimes; and (3) that there are no

other means readily available for obtaining such evidence.”

Sec. 4. A new section to be known as Section 3A shall be inserted to read as

follows;

“SECTION 3A. IT SHALL LIKEWISE BE UNLAWFUL FOR
PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATION ENTITIES AND
OTHER SIMILAR ENTERPRISES ENGAGED IN THE


BUSINESS OF VOICE AND DATA TRANSMISSION
THROUGH WIRE, RADIO, DIGITAL OR ELECTRONIC
MEANS, TO RETAIN RECORDS OF VOICE AND DATA
PASSING THROUGH THEIR SYSTEM INCLUDING
INFORMATION ON THE IDENTITY OF THE PARTIES,
ORIGIN, DESTINATION, DATE, TIME AND DURATION
OF THE COMMUNICATION UNLESS OTHERWISE
ORDERED BY A COURT OF COMPETENT
JURISDICTION FOR PURPOSES ALLOWED UNDER
SECTION 3 OF THIS ACT. VIOLATION OF THIS
PROVISION SHALL CAUSE FOR THE PROSECUTION
OF THE OFFICERS AND PERSONNEL RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE SAME.”

Sec. 5. Separability Clause. - Should any provision of this Act or any part thereof be
declared invalid, the other provisions, insofar as they are separable from the
invalid ones, shall remain in full force and effect

Sec. 6. Repealing Clause. - All laws, orders, issuances, rules and regulations or parts
thereof inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.

Sec. 7. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete

publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Adopted.