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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 2333

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE CARLOS 0. COJUANGCO

EXPLANATORY NOTE

A prepaid mobile phone or internet service is a service for which
credit is purchased in advance of service use. The purchased credit is used to
pay for mobile phone or internet services at the point the service is accessed
or consumed. If there is no available credit, then access to the requested
service is denied by the network service provider. As calls, texts or internet
access are made deductions are taken against the prepaid balance amount
until there are no funds remaining.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) reported that
there are roughly one hundred (100) million mobile phone subscriptions in
the country, eighty percent (80%) of which are prepaid service users.
Prepaid service users rely on purchasing prepaid loads or credits to access
the services they need or want.

At present, cellphone and Internet prepaid loads have expiration dates
of their validity depending on the amount purchased. The development of
the prepaid industry has undeniably benefitted millions of Filipinos by
providing prepaid load credits that are within their reach. However,
complaints have been rampant that prepaid load users do not get the full
value they pay for due to expiration dates and forfeiture of unutilized load
credits.

Considering that consumers paid “good” money in buying their
prepaid load, it is only not fair, but it a crime, a “daylight robbery” against
the consumers, to have expiration on the use of their prepaid cards.

This bill seeks to make the imposition of expiration periods on the
validity of prepaid load and forfeiture of unused credits prohibited acts with
corresponding penalties. This will ensure that the hard-earned money of

inos using prepaid mobile phone or internet services are
put to good and maximum use.



In view of the foregoing, the immediate consideration and passage of

this bill is earnestly requested.

CARLOS O. CO, SO
Represen


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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. £3859

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE CARLOS 0. COJUANGCO

AN ACT
PROHIBITING TELECOMMUNICATIONN
COMPANIES FROM IMPOSING AN EXPIRATION
PERIOD ON THE VALIDITY OF PRE-PAID CALL AND
TEXT CARDS AND THE FORFEITURE OF LOAD
CREDITS THEREOF

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

SECTIO 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the ‘Pre-paid
Load Protection Act of 2016’.

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. - \t is hereby declared the
policy of the State to protect the interest of the consumer, promote his
general welfare and to establish standards of conduct of business and
industry. Towards this end, the State shall implement measures to achieve
among others, the protection of consumers against deceptive, unfair and
unconscionable sales acts and practices.

SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act, the
term:
a) Load credits - shall refer to the monetary value or the consumable

amount loaded to a mobile or landline phone via pre-paid cards or


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electronic transfers that enable a consumer to use telecommunication
services;
b) Pre-paid - shall refer to the type of mobile or landline phone account
that requires its owners to purchase load credits before services are used;
c) Pre-paid call and text card - shall refer to a card with corresponding
peso value that has to be purchased to enable a subscriber to use
telecommunication services.

SECTION 4. Prohibited Acts. - The following shall constitute
prohibited acts of any telecommunication company providing pre-paid
services and are hereby declared unlawful:

a) Imposition of an expiration period on the validity of the unused pre-paid
call and text cards;

b) Forfeiture of load credits stored on an active pre-paid phone account via
pre-paid call and text card or electronic transfer; and,

c) Refusal to give a refund to any pre-paid subscriber whose load credits
were forfeited without any valid cause.

SECTION 5. Penalties. - Any director, officer, employee or agent
of a telecommunication company providing pre-paid services who shall
commit any of the acts mentioned under Section 4 hereof, shall, upon
conviction, be subject to the penalty of a fine of not less than One Hundred
Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00) but not to exceed One Million Pesos
(P1,000,000.00), or imprisonment of not less than two (2) years but not more

than six (6) years, or both, upon the discretion of the court.


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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 penalty shall
be imposed:

a) First offense - Fine of Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P500,000.00);

b) Second offense - Fine of One Million Pesos (P1,000,000.00) plus
suspension of license to engage in business for a period of thirty (30)
days; and,

c) Third offense - Fine of Two Million Pesos (P2,000,000.00) plus
immediate revocation of license to engage in business.

SECTION 6. — Information Dissemination. - The Philippine
Information Agency (PIA) in coordination with the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC) shall ensure the proper and
adequate information dissemination of the contents and benefits of this Act
to the general public, especially to its intended beneficiaries.

SECTION 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The NTC
shall formulate the necessary rules and regulations to implement the
provisions of this Act within ninety (90) days after its effectivity. The rules
and regulations issued pursuant to this Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days
after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

SECTION 8. Separability. - If, for any reason, any section or
provision of this Act is held unconstitutional or invalid, the other provisions
hereof not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.

SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive

orders, proclamations, rules and regulations, and other issuances, or parts


thereof inconsistent with the provisions of. this Act are hereby deemed
repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 10. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15)
days after its full publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2)
newspapers of general circulation.

APPROVED,