The text messages themselves have also caused controversy. Another message said the president was dead, and the accompanying joke asked people to pray that the former rumour was not true and the latter was. The incident led the Philippine Government to complain that rude jokes and false rumours on text messages were destabilising Mr Estrada's beleaguered administration. It also prompted the country's main mobile phone companies to take out full-page advertisements in national newspapers pleading with subscribers to be more responsible. Texting comes with it own vocabulary and etiquette, just like e-mail.
Users look to shortening words.
Part of the reason why the country's 4.5 million mobile phone users have taken to it so well is because of economics - texting is cheap. Sending e-mail through computers is more costly and telephone services through land lines can be unreliable. The craze took off after one telephone company, Globe, introduced prepaid cards for mobile phones, making it no longer necessary to take out more costly long-term subscriptions. Globe now has 2.75 million subscribers, more than double the number in March. The company initially charged no fee for text messages, but has since started charging a tiny fee of one peso - a fraction of a voice call.