THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
Third Regular Session 
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S E N A T E ,  
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S.B.No. , . , . 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The 1987 Constitution, Article 2, Section 3 states that: 
“Section 3. (1) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall 
be inviolable except upon lawhl order of the court, or when public safety or order 
requires otherwise, as prescribed by law. 
(2) Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding section 
shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding.” 
Customer telephone records may be accessed without authorization of the 
customer by: 1) an employee of the telephone company selling the data; 2) ”pretexting”’, 
whereby a data broker or other person pretends to be the owner of the phone and 
convinces the telephone company’s employees to release the data to them; or 3) 
unauthorized access of accounts via the internet. In addition, phone records may be 
illegally tapped to obtain information which can be used against the consumer. 
This bill seeks to implement the constitutional right to privacy of communications 
and correspondence by providing for measures which will make it more difficult to 
access the phone records of a consumer. 


THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
Third Regular Session 
) 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
TO PROTECT CONSUMERS’ PHONE RECORDS 
Be if enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Protecting Consumer 
Phone Records Act of 2007.” 
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 right, 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. De$nition.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/P 
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” is the 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 or 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 services 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 that person's affirmative 
written consent by - 
(1 .I .) 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 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 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 not 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 ofAction 
(A) Private Right of Action for Providers - 
(1) 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 a 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 PhP 20,000 in damages for each such violation, whichever is 
greater; or 
(1.3.) 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. 
(B) 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 PhP 20,000 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 the award to not more than 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 PhP 20,000 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 PW 20,000,000 for 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 from a 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 the 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 regulation 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, 
spsc/5-28-07