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The House of Representatives is backing off on its plan to
slap a five-centavo tax on text messages, apparently feeling the heat of
public resistance to increase the cost of texting. GLOBE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INC. OF the Ayala group has warned
Congress that slapping a tax on text would affect the viability of the
popular short messaging service. Rep. Exequiel Javier, chair of House ways and means
committee, told ANC's Business Nightly that the proposed additional 5-centavo tax
on text messages will be passed before the lawmakers adjourn for recess.
Rep. Javier stressed in the phone interview that they are determined to pass
the incremental tax, which could raise an additional P20 to P36 billion
annually, to finance much-needed social ...
THE Cellphone Owners and Users of the Philippines
(COUP) on Tuesday filed a class suit that seeks
a temporary restraining order to stop the House
of Representatives from proceeding with the approval
of the text tax. CONGRESSMEN yesterday agreed to delay debate on a proposal to
impose new taxes on telecommunication firms that would raise revenues to help
narrow the budget gap. The House committee on ways and means yesterday gave in to
strong opposition from the public and reconsidered its decision last September
8 approving a proposal seeking a five-centavo tax on every text message and
other mobile phone services to be shouldered by subscribers.
MANILA – Legislators in the Lower House took a step back on
the additional five-centavo levy on text messages for 2 reasons:
misunderstanding on whether consumers will end up paying for the tax, and the
May 2010 elections. After approving the bill imposing a five-centavo excise tax
on every text message, the ways and means committee of the House of
Representatives backpedaled Tuesday when its chairman, Antique Representative
Exequiel Javier, threw back to the panel the controversial measure.
Public uproar has forced the House committee on Ways and
Means on Tuesday to reconsider its approval of a measure proposing a
five-centavo tax on text messages and other mobile phone services.
Legislators behind the plan to tax text messaging should give
it a second thought lest they suffer the fate of Ralph Recto. Who is going to be the Chief Executive after June 30, 2010?
Not Noynoy Aquino or Chiz Escudero (or Loren Legarda) or Manny Villar or Gibo
Teodoro. No, none of the above. It could be a general—a military or police
general—according to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. THE Cebu City Council last Wednesday voiced its “strong
opposition” to the approval of an additional tax on text messaging. read
more DOES THE GOVERNMENT REALLY HAVE no alternative to this touchy
“tax on text?” Heavy foreign selling kept Philippine share prices in the red
on Tuesday and brought the main index to a near one-month low. MEMBERS and council of the Youth for Change (Y4C), the youth
arm of the Bacolod 2020 Movement, will spearhead a signature campaign against
the passage of the five percent tax on text messages which th read more The opposition against a House push to impose a five-centavo
tax on each text message is gaining as a senator and a consumer group demanded
that the bill seeking to impose the tax be withdrawn. The Dangerous Drugs Board on Monday appealed to the House of
Representatives to abandon the bill imposing a P0.05 centavo tax on text
messaging and instead push for measures that would make it mandatory for
telecommunications firms to record and register all SIM card sales
transactions. Registering prepaid call and text cards will help fight
crime, Dangerous Drugs Board Chairman Vicente Sotto III said as he urged
telecommunications companies to do so. BY ARNOLD PADILLA The latest incarnation of the text tax
comes in the context of an administration under pressure from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) to widen its revenue base. It was the IMF that first openly
pushed the text tax idea in 2002 to address the government’s burgeoning budget
deficit. TXTmate, a consumer movement, Sunday criticized the proposed
5-centavo tax on text messages as a dangerous measure that would not
address the real problem of cellphone users—access costs that are the highest
in After the proposed tax on text messaging met stiff
competition in the Senate, the Department of Finance said it was hoping
legislators would instead pass the pending bill slapping a higher tax on
cigarettes and alcohol, stressing the dire need to address the government’s
falling revenue collection.
The As it rejected suggestions to merely revise the five-centavo
text tax bill, a militant consumers' group is readying protest actions to call
for the junking of the measure.
Saying it could violate the people’s right to privacy,
Senator Juan Ponce Enrile on Saturday vowed to oppose a proposal emanating from
the House of Representatives for government to establish a text metering
system. BROWNOUTS are back in Wary about the possible political impact of the proposed tax
on text messages, Malacañang Friday called on lawmakers to revise the measure
and spare cell phone users of unnecessary burden. Gov. Joey Salceda of Albay is right: taxing text message will
hurt the poor, overseas workers and their families (The Manila Times page A7, September
10, 2009). The proposal to impose a five-centavo tax on text
messages will never pass the Senate unless the telecommunication companies
agree to reduce their present rates, if Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile will
have his way. The government will back a proposed five-centavo tax on
text messaging if Congress keeps a "no pass-on provision" that
will ensure consumers are not burdened by additional costs. In the wake of bitter protests from some consumer groups and
mobile phone companies, Malacañang Friday backtracked from its earlier support
for a congressional proposal to impose new taxes on text messages.
Malacañang will keep its hands off the row involving a
five-centavo tax on text messaging, at least until both houses of
Congress pass a measure on the matter. Globe Telecom and Smart Telecommunications Friday denounced
the proposed 5-centavo excise tax on SMS, MMS and overseas dispatch as one of
the worst anti-consumer legislations ever made. The country’s leading telecommunication providers Thursday
denounced as “anti-consumer,” “anti-poor” and “oppressive” a House bill that
would slap an excise tax on text messaging and other wireless services
alongside a proposed metering device they warned could be abused to invade people’s
privacy. Globe Telecom and Smart Telecommunications Friday denounced
the proposed 5-centavo excise tax on SMS, MMS and overseas dispatch as one of
the worst anti-consumer legislations ever made. It will surely trigger an
increase in the prices of these services, specifically texting, at the worst
possible time. Because the P0.05 tax is imposed on each and every message
regardless of the price of the ... Telecommunication companies, or telcos, may stop offering
promos because of the proposed tax on short messaging services (SMS) or
texts—even as the Palace said it would support the measure if it were not
passed on to consumers. THE COUNTRY'S top two telecommunication companies yesterday
hit the proposed P0.05 excise tax on text messages, claiming the measure
will only hurt consumers. Rather than impose a tax on text messages that will
surely be passed on to the public, Malacañang should instead improve its
campaign against smuggling, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay said yesterday. Globe Telecom sees bill as 'one of the worst anti-consumer
legislations' MANILA - Filipinos may no longer enjoy unlimited short message
services (SMS) if the proposed 5-centavo excise tax on text messages
will be implemented, a mobile phone firm warned on Thursday. Malacañang would support the proposed tax on text
messages if lawmakers would place a provision in the bill that it would not be
passed on to consumers, officials said on Thursday. MANILA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Mobile phone conpanies in the
Philippines protested on Thursday against a proposal in the lower house of
Congress to impose new taxes on text messages that would raise revenues to help
to narrow the budget gap this year. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Thursday said he would
vote against the Lower House proposal to impose a five-centavo excise tax on
text messages if the measure would result in an indirect tax on consumers. Telco sees bill as 'one of the worst anti-consumer
legislations' MANILA - Filipinos may no longer enjoy unlimited short message
services (SMS) if the proposed 5-centavo excise tax on text messages
will be implemented, a mobile phone firm warned on Thursday. Malacañang expressed support for proposed laws that is
expected to bring in more revenues for the government, including a five-centavo
tax on text messages. A consumer group, an economic adviser to President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo and the head of the Senate said the proposed tax on text
messages would be an additional burden on the country’s 72 million mobile phone
users. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile vowed yesterday the Senate
will block a proposed five-centavo tax on text a bill for which was
approved the other day by a House panel. Malacanang Wednesday threw its full support to congressional
moves to impose five centavos excise tax on every text message sent through
mobile phones. MOBILE phone subscribers will shoulder the additional cost
under the proposed five-centavo tax on text, multimedia messages, and
calls approved by a House panel Tuesday, a Cagayan de Oro lawmaker said. read
more MANILA - Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Wednesday
the newly-approved tax on text messages could bring an additional P25
billion to P29 billion to the national coffers, helping trim the country’s
swelling budget deficit. Congress moved closer to getting a bigger slice of the
profits of telecommunication firms after a committee of the House of
Representatives approved Tuesday a bill seeking to impose a five-centavo excise
tax on every text, picture, and video and audio clip sent through mobile
phones. While Congress failed to pass a bill on the proposed
reforms... The House committee on ways and means approved yesterday a
substitute House bill imposing a five-centavo excise tax on each mobile phone
text message. (UPDATE) The House committee on ways and means on Tuesday
approved a measure imposing a five-centavo excise tax on every text message,
but said this would not be passed on to the consumers. Here’s bad news for cellphone subscribers. The House of
Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means approved Tuesday a bill imposing a
five-centavo excise tax on text messages, but without a provision that
would supposedly spare about 70 million cellphone subscribers from additional
tax burden.
Without ensuring that the additional cost will not be
shouldered by mobile phone subscribers, a House panel approved a proposal
imposing a five-centavo tax on text, multimedia messages, and calls. The House committee on ways and means on Tuesday approved a
resolution imposing a five-centavo excise tax on every text message, but said
this would not passed on to the consumers. Newly-installed senior deputy commissioner of the Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR) has been given broad powers to strengthen the tax
collection and administration machineries of the agency which is task this year
to raise P897 billion. The administration-backed bill seeking to increase anew the
“sin taxes,” or the tax rates on tobacco and alcohol, is losing steam in the
House of Representatives as sales of tobacco and alcohol products dropped to a
dangerous 30 percent level in the past six months. The House Ways and Means Committee is moving closer to
endorsing the tax on text and metering scheme after its members agreed
to consolidate two measures proposing to collect 5 centavos for every text
message sent. Heavy foreign selling kept Philippine share prices in the red
on Tuesday and brought the main index to a near one-month low. Malacañang will keep its hands off the row involving a
five-centavo tax on text messaging, at least until both houses of
Congress pass a measure on the matter. The proposal to impose a five-centavo tax on text
messages will never pass the Senate unless the telecommunication companies
agree to reduce their present rates, if Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile will
have his way. THE COUNTRY'S top two telecommunication companies yesterday
hit the proposed P0.05 excise tax on text messages, claiming the measure
will only hurt consumers. Malacañang expressed support for proposed laws that is
expected to bring in more revenues for the government, including a five-centavo
tax on text messages. MANILA - Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Wednesday
the newly-approved tax on text messages could bring an additional P25
billion to P29 billion to the national coffers, helping trim the country’s
swelling budget deficit. (UPDATE) The House committee on ways and means on Tuesday
approved a measure imposing a five-centavo excise tax on every text message,
but said this would not be passed on to the consumers. Without ensuring that the additional cost will not be
shouldered by mobile phone subscribers, a House panel approved a proposal
imposing a five-centavo tax on text, multimedia messages, and calls. THE COUNTRY'S top two telecommunication companies yesterday
hit the proposed P0.05 excise tax on text messages, claiming the measure
will only hurt consumers.
08/10/09 - Joker questions NTC’s granting telcos 4-month grace period on new billing system - SEN. Joker Arroyo has protested the four-month grace period granted to telecommunication giants Smart, Globe and Sun…“Why December? Why not now?” Senator Arroyo asked. 08/10/09 - Globe, Sun ask NTC to dismiss class suit - GLOBE Telecom Inc. and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. (DMPI) want the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to dismiss a complaint filed by the Cellphone Owners & Users of the Philippines Inc. (Coup) for lack of merit. 07/24/09 - NTC rule on unit of billing stuns telcos - MOBILE-phone firms were once again caught off-guard when the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued on Thursday new rules… 07/24/09 - Regulators order telcos to charge calls per six-second pulse by December - THE NATIONAL Telecommunications Commission (NTC) released yesterday new guidelines requiring telcos to bill mobile phone calls for every six seconds instead of by the minute, the latest of new rules tightening regulation over the lucrative sector. 07/23/2009 - NTC orders shift to per-pulse rate on mobile calls - The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Thursday issued new rules on billing cellular voice calls, requiring mobile phone firms to shift to per-pulse from per-minute charging. Ano ba? Nagkakaluto-an na naman ba? Why negotiate behind closed doors? Everyone claims to be protecting the hapless customer, but are the customers in this case aware of what were given and taken behind closed doors? Yari na naman!!! 70 million docile souls indeed! We will be seeing more booty capitalism in action as the 2010 election approaches. 07/23/09 - Third-party mobile phone content providers backtrack after compromise with NTC - AFTER TALKS with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) yesterday, value added services (VAS) providers decided to withdraw from the courts petitions for a temporary restraining order over a circular banning "spam" text messages. 07/23/09 - NTC buckles, clarifies memorandum circular on mobile text spam - Mobile phone content providers announced they would pull out their appeal before the two regional trial courts to bar government from prohibiting broadcast advertising or push messages after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) clarified some provision of the circular. 07/23/09 - Mobile content providers withdraw TRO petitions -- Value added service (VAS) providers have withdrawn their separate petitions for a temporary restraining order...that bans the sending of spam and push messages to mobile phones. 07/23/09 - JPE brokers NTC-providers talks -- SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile, acting as arbiter, forged a compromise between government regulators and cell-phone content providers... 07/21/09 - Regulator ‘powerless’ to act on SMS spam - Ignoring the constant barrage of text messages offering various products and services can be a challenge for recipients, admit officials of the country’s largest mobile phone firms. 07/21/09 - NTC ban seen to affect legit SMS services - VALUE-ADDED SERVICE providers will be stopped from sending... once the National Telecommunications Commission’s ban on such services takes effect. 07/21/09 - Vanishing load mystery deepens - Members of the mobile value-added service (VAS) industry yesterday denied being responsible for the diminishing load of prepaid phone subscribers. “We categorically deny that value-added services are the reason for the so-called vanishing load issue. It is impossible for VAS providers to cause vanishing load as we do not have the ability to deduct load from subscribers,” said John Alonte, G-Gateway Mobile Phils. Inc. chief executive officer and spokesman for the VAS group. 07/20/09 - VAS firms seek deeper probe into text spam - A group of mobile value added service (VAS) providers are seeking further investigation into the alleged “vanishing load. 07/20/09 - NTC ban on "spam" texts puts P5-B industry in peril - Between numerous complaints of Filipino mobile phone customers and a homegrown P5 billion sunshine industry, what's a regulator to do? Years ago, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has been balancing the interests of these groups by issuing guidelines and slapping on the wrist with meek fines the telecommunication firms that fail to address customer complaints on these. It took no less than the Senate president to make public his vanishing phone credits to push the industry regulator to be more firm. 07/19/2009 - SMS spammers still free and unregulated - MANILA, Philippines - If you think regulators have succeeded in ending “text spam,” think again. Mobile phone users may expect to continue receiving unsolicited SMS messages from vendors offering a wide range of products and services despite an ongoing crackdown against this annoying practice. 07/17/09 - Pinoy Kasi: GSM - What one senator’s fury can do indeed. - I’m referring to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s summoning the telco (telecommunications) providers after he discovered that his cell-phone load had been dwindling even without his using it. Having seen so many useless Senate investigation hearings, I was initially skeptical about what would happen next, but when other senators jumped into the fray, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and telco providers just had to respond. 07/16/09 - More value for money - The assurance by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that telecom companies will extend cell phone loads as low as P10 to at least three days starting this Sunday is good news for the millions of cell phone users in the country. But how this could be guaranteed remains unclear. 07/15/09 - CLASS ACTION BEING FILED AGAINST MOBILE PHONE COMPANIES - A lawmaker is set to lead in the filing of a "class suit" this week together with a consumer group against telecommunication companies (telcos) for what they call as "digital robbery" of prepaid loads. Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo "Ompong" Plaza, who was reported to be running for the Senate under the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC), and the Cellphone Owners and Users of the Philippines Inc. (COUP), in a press conference Wednesday at Hotel Rembrandt in Quezon City, said they have decided to file a class suit against Smart Communications, Globe Telecom and Sun Cellular. The move is aimed at recovering money claims for the millions of consumers that have been robbed blind of their prepaid loads. 07/14/09 - Consumer group to sue three telco firms - A CONSUMER group is set to file a class suit this week against three telecommunications companies for various grievances. Vicente Gambito, one of the organizers of The Cellphone Owners and Users of the Philippines (COUP) Inc. said yesterday the group would file the case in a local court against Smart Communications Inc., Globe Telecom and Sun Cellular operator Digital Mobile Telecommunications Philippines, Inc. for malpractices and abuses to the cell phone owners and users. 07/11/09 - Group vs. Telcos to campaign in Cebu - OFFICIALS of the Cellphone Owners and Users of the Philippines (Coup) Inc. will come to Cebu tomorrow to campaign against alleged abuses of communications firms. 07/08/09 - PGMA tells NTC to ensure consumer protection - MANILA, Jul 07, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- ?- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday ordered the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to ensure the protection of cellular phone subscribers from telecommunication companies (Telcos). 07/08/09 - GMA eyes Sona brownie with directive to NTC - To apparently have something else to report out in her final State of the Nation Address (Sona) less than three weeks from now, President Arroyo yesterday ordered the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to act to ensure that the millions of cellular phone users in the country are protected from abuses by the local telecommunication companies (telcos). 07/07/09 - NTC now bars spam from mobile phones - VANISHING load no more. Telecommunications regulators on late Tuesday approved the new guidelines on broadcast messaging service. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) now prohibits content providers from sending unsolicited messages, more known as spam messages, via text messaging service on the mobile phones of subscribers. 07/07/09 - Content providers contest new guidelines on VAS - PROVIDERS of value-added services (VAS) on Wednesday are contesting a proposal from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) disallowing the use of cellular phones for unsolicited marketing campaigns. The proposal, they said, could drive them out of business. 07/04/09
- New NTC order on prepaid load validity wins
praise - MANILA - Text-savvy Pinoys are heaping
praise on a new regulatory order extending the validity
period of prepaid mobile phone credits
07/03/09
- Telcos ordered: Triple ‘load’ life - MANILA,
Philippines — Bowing to pressure from lawmakers,
telecommunications regulators are set to compel
mobile phone firms to treble the shelf life of prepaid
credits amid persistent complaints of “vanishing
load” from the public. 07/03/09
- (UPDATE 2) NTC extends prepaid load expiration
- MANILA - The telecommunications industry regulator
released on Friday the guidelines for a more consumer-friendly
validity period for prepaid mobile phone credits. 07/03/09 - Group sues telecom firms for 'digitally robbing' users - THE Cellphone Owners & Users of the Philippines Inc. (Coup), a consumer group reportedly representing millions of mobile phone subscribers in the country, on Thursday filed a class suit against the country's mobile phone firms, saying subscribers had been "digitally robbed" billions of pesos by way of illegal deductions and unexplained disappearance of credit loads. 07/02/09 - Missing cellphone load - It is election time and some politicians are now busy knocking on the door of telecom companies for attention. Mobile phone operators such as Smart and Globe Telecom are the most profitable companies today, no question asked, and politicians look at them as milking cow this election campaign season... Which turned out to be beneficial to subscribers, ironically.
06/27/09 - On the vanishing cellphone load - Wow, incredible! It took the pique of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile no less, and the ensuing Senate probe before the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) grudgingly admitted its being inutile, over nationwide complaints of cellphone subscribers whose cellphone loads have been stolen repeatedly – yes, an act of techno thievery – by mobile phone companies!
07/30/08 - Pinoys 'tricked' over 50¢/text rate - group - Despite President Arroyo's announcement of a 50¢ cut in text messaging rates, the public may still have been "cheated," a militant consumer group said. In a statement, TXTPower, a consumer group, said text messages may already cost less than 50 centavos, given the advancement in mobile communication technology and the gigantic profit telecommunications firms had raked in for the past years. 02/19/08 - Reforming the political economy, according to Neri - CALL it pragmatism, plain naïveté or a total cop-out, but former socioeconomic and planning secretary Romulo Neri thinks the reforms in the country’s political economy that he has been advocating since he joined government service in 1990 would be better led by no less than Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself. |
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