NINETEENTH CONGRESS OF THE ] 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
]
First Regular Session 
]
SENATE
809
Senate
of tiK
*22 JUL25 AlO *47
RirXElVliD OV
S.B. No.
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 AN J THEIR FORFEITURE
EXPLANATORY NOTE
This legislation seeks to make the expiration and forfeiture of all denominations 
of prepaid load credits a thing of the past. It will have an impact on 153,143,696 
prepaid subscribers as of March 2022 - that is 97.1% of the total number of mobile 
subscribers1 in the country as of the first quarter of 2022 - who stand to lose their 
hard-earned prepaid load credits due to non-use before the expiration period.
Globe*
PLDT**
TOTAL
POSTPAID
2,508,180
2,055,653 
of which:
Smart: 1,584,121
Sun: 
471,532
4,563,833
(2.9%)
PREPAID
84,919,678 
of which:
Globe: 43,286,370
TM: 
41,633,308
68,224,018 
of which:
Smart: 26,229,708
TNT: 
41,994,310
153,143,696
(97.1%)
Q1 2022 TOTAL 
Mobile
Subscribers***
87,427,858
70,279,671
157,707,529
(100.0%)
Globe Telecom Inc. and PLDT Inc. SBC Form 17-Q 2022 (March 31, 2022)


The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)2, the Department of 
Information and Communications Technology (DICT)3, and the Department of Trade 
and Industry (DTI)4, pursuant to their respective mandates, signed on December 20, 
2017 Joint Memorandum Circular No. 05-12-2017.5 It prescribed the validity of prepaid 
load credits of all information and communications technology (ICT) providers and 
public telecommunications entities (PTEs) with a denomlnatiori of PhP300 and above 
to one year effective last January 5, 2018. The following were excluded from its 
coverage: (1) prepaid loads 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 No. 03-07-20096 which 
provided for the expiration periods of prepaid loads depending on the amount of 
credits purchased. Prepaid loads with higher value had longer expiration or validity 
period. This system was based on an analysis conducted in 2009 involving 75.57 
million prepaid subscribers with the corresponding carrying cost per prepaid subscriber 
of around PhP3 per day.7 As more than 90% of the costs of the networks are fixed, 
the carrying cost per subscriber decreases as the subscribers multiply.8
Ten years after the 2009 study, the number of prepaid subscribers has almost 
doubled from around 75 million to the present 153 million - a clear indication of how 
the prepaid call and text industry has Immensely penetrated the even/day lives of 
Philippine consumers - making prepaid load an essential commodity. Sustaining a 
scheme that imposes the expiration of prepaid credits that were purchased by the 
consumers' hard-earned money forces them to consume their prepaid load, albeit 
unnecessarily, to get the full value of i:he credits or risk forfeiture and be left with zero 
load9 - a waste of the prepaid subscriber's money; an income for the PTE and the ICT 
provider.
*** Covers phone and broadband subscribers.
2 Republic Act No. 7925, otherwise known as the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the 
Philippines.
3 Republic Act No. 10884, otherwise known as the Department of Information and Communications 
Technology Act of 2015.
4 Republic Act No. 7394, otherwise known as the Consumer Act of the Philippines.
5 Prescribing a One (1) Year Expiration Period for Prepaid Loads.
6 Otherwise known as Guidelines on Prepaid Loads, dated July 3, 2009.
7 NTC-DICT-DTI Joint Memorandum Circular No. 05-12-2017.
8 Ibid.
9 http://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=10516


This bill thus makes it a prohibited act to impose an expiration period on the 
validity of all denominations of prepaid load credits - whether purchased via prepaid 
card or electronic load - and the eventual forfeiture of such credits on an active 
prepaid account. Every peso spent by the consumer to purchase prepaid load credits 
must be usable until fully consumed. In protecting the consumer's every single peso, 
the telecommunications industry will help in enabling the mobile economy bring the 
rapid technological changes and benefits of the digital revolution within the reach of 
the poor and disadvantaged, thereby creating prosperous and inclusive societies. I 
hope that this legislation will be an instrument in realizing this goal, and I earnestly 
seek for its immediate approval.
lATCHAL;


‘©fficp of tile ^on-(Uixp
NINETEENTH CONGRESS OF THE ] 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ] 
First Regular Session 
]
SENATE 
S.B. No.
•22 JUL 25 AlO ’47
RECEIVED BY;
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. Tide. - This Act shall be known as thePrepaid Load Forever Act"
2
3 
SEC. 1. 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 consurr.ers, 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 Account 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 refers 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 
tr ansmit, present, and disse minate information;
15 
d. Information and Communications Technology or ICT Provider refers to any
16 
entity in the ICT sector, which includes telecommunications and broadcast
17 
information operators, ICT equipment manufacturers, multimedia content
18 
developers and providers, ICT solution providers, internet service providers,
19 
ICT training institutions, software developers, and ICT-ES providers;
20 
e. Prepaid refers to the type of account that requires its owners to purchase
21 
load credits before telecommunications services can be used;
22 
f. Prepaid Load Creditrefers to the monetary value or the consumable amount
23 
loaded via prepaid card or electronic load to a device that enables a
24 
subscriber to use telecommunications services;
25 
g. Prepaid Subscriber ref ers to any person, natural or juridical, who avails of
26 
telecommunications services from a public telecommunications entity
27 
and/or information and communications technology provider by purchasing
28 
credit in advance of service use. The purchased credit is used to pay for


1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 
21 
22
23
24
25
26
27
28 
29
telecommunications services at the point the service is accessed or 
consumed;
h. Public Telecommunications Entity or PTE refers to any duly authorized 
public telecommunications entity that offers voice, short messaging system 
(SMS) or text, mobile data, value added services (VAS), or any other 
telecommunications services to the public for a fee; and
i. 
Telecommunications refers to any process which enables a 
telecommunications entity to relay and receive voice, data, electronic 
messages, written or printed matter, fixed or moving pictures, words, music 
or visible or audible signals, or any control signals of any design and for any 
purpose by wire, radio, or other electromagnetic, spectral, optical, or 
technological means.
SEC. 4. Prohibited Acts. - The following shall constitute prohibited acts of any 
PTE or ICT provider and are hereby declared to be unlawful:
a. Imposition of an expiration period on the validity of unused prepaid load 
credits, whether purchased via prepaid card or electronic load;
b. Forfeiture of such prepaid load credits on an active prepaid account, save 
for the purpose of availing of the mobile number portability service; and
c. Refusal to give a refund to any prepaid subscriber whose load credits were 
forfeited without any valid cause.
In view of paragraph b, a prepaid account that has become dormant shall be 
deducted one peso for every day of Inactivity from its remaining load credits until such 
credits are fully consumed.
SEC. 5. Pena! Provision. - Any director, officer, employee, or agent of a PTE or 
ICT provider providing prepaid telecommunications services who shall violate any of 
the acts mentioned under Sec. 4 hereof shall, upon conviction, be subject to the 
penalty of a fine of not less than One Hundred Thousand Pesos (PhP100,000.00) but


1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 
21 
22
23
24
25
26 
27
not to exceed One Million Pesos (PhPl,000,000.00) or imprisonment of not less than 
two (2) years but not more than six (6) years, or both, upon the discretion of the 
court.
If the violation was committed by or in the interest of a juridical person duly 
licensed to engage in business in the Philippines, the following penalties shall be 
imposed:
a. First offense - a fine of Five Flundred Thousand Pesos (PhP500,000.00);
b. Second offense - a fine of One Million Pesos (PhPl,000,000.00) plus 
suspension of license to engage in business for a period of thirty (30) days; 
and
c. Third offense - a fine of Two Million Pesos (PhP2,000,000.00) plus 
immediate revocation of license to engage in business.
SEC. 6. Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). - Within ninety (90) days 
from the effectivity of this Act, the National Telecommunications Commission shall 
coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and 
the Department of Trade and Industry to promulgate rules and regulations and other 
issuances as may be necessary to ensure the effective implementation of this Act, 
including the issuance of proper and adequate information dissemination of its 
contents and benefits to the general public.
The IRR issued pursuant to this Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in a newspaper of genera' circulation.
SEC. 7. Separability Cause, - 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,