Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

3687

House Bill No.

Introduced by Representative GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO

AN ACT
PROTECTING CONSUMERS’ PHONE RECORDS, PROVIDING PENALTIES
THEREFORE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

It is stated in Article Section 3, of our Constitution that a person has the right to privacy.
Any unlawful intrusion to a person's home and personal effects is a violation of this right
but this, of course, also includes any person’s communication or correspondence, be it
verbal or written. Due to innovations in Information Technology, this right to privacy has
now been extended in scope to include even electronic ways of communicating.

Such right, although safeguarded by our Constitution, was further strengthened by the
enactment of Republic Act No. 4200 entitled. “An Act to Prohibit and Penalize Wire
Tapping and other related Violations of the Privacy of Communication, and for other
Purposes.” This law passed in 1965 provided protection against individuals who violated
privacy of communication by prohibiting and penalizing wiretapping activities.

This proposed measure seeks to further reinforce a person's right to privacy in
communications and correspondence by providing penalties and additional means to
make difficult the access of consumers’ phone records without their express and proper
authorization.

In light of the reasons stated above, | therefore enjoin my colleagues to ensure the
immediate approval of this measure into law.

GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO,
2" District, Pampanga


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No368'7

Introduced by Representative GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO

AN ACT
PROTECTING CONSUMERS’ PHONE RECORDS, PROVIDING PENALTIES
THEREFORE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

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

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Protecting Consumers’
Phone Records Act of 2016."

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. — \t 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 pretense,

SECTION 3. Definition 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 / IP 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’ ~ means used to transport, engage and transmit
any form of communication to another person or entity.

(3) “Confidential Phone Record 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 behalf of a covered entity solely by virtue of the relationship
between that covered entity and the customer

(4) “Covered Entity” — includes any provided 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 any reach a commercial mobile service 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 the person's affirmative
written consent by —

(1.1) Making false or fraudulent statements or representations to an
employee of 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-enable voice service provider in order
to acquire the customer proprietary network information and phone records
information of one (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 of 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 original of the 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 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 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 provides, may not
publish, in printed, electronic, or other from, 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 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 of Action. —

(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 avenue under the Rules of Court and any court in which the carrier of service
provider resides or conducts business —

(1.1) based on violation of this section of the regulations prescribe under this
section to enjoin such violation;

(1.2) to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive
Twenty Thousand Pesos (P20,000,00) in damages for each violation,
whichever is greater; of both

(2) If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated this section or
the regulations prescribe 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 Twenty Thousand Pesos (20,000.00) 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 of
the regulations prescribe under this section, the court may, in its discretion,
increase the amount of award to not more than three (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 Twenty Thousand Pesos (P20,000.00) 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 amount of Twenty Million
Pesos (P20,000,000.00) or any single act 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 separate
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 tile 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, rules 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 (20 newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,