| Companies |
| Written by Lenie Lectura with Jonathan L. Mayuga |
| THURSDAY, 02 JULY 2009 21:53 |
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The group, headed by its lead counsel Rod Domingo Jr., asked the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to immediately issue a cease and desist order (CDO) against the collection of illegal charges carried out by Smart Communications Inc., Globe Telecom and Digital Mobile Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (DMPI), operator of Sun Cellular. Domingo said another complaint will be filed before the Quezon City RTC Branch 77 within the next two weeks for money claims of the complainants. He estimated that a refund of the illegally deducted or illegally charged “loads” will reach billions of pesos. Joining Domingo in filing the class suit are Marcelino Bautista Jr., a retired Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge and a former Commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), Quezon City Councilor and Majority Floor Leader Ariel Enrile Inton Jr., Adrian O. Sison of Kapatiran and Ma. Theresa F. Leonardo, a law practitioner based in Monterey, California, U.S.A. Coup demanded that all charges and assessments illegally collected and passed on by the cellular firms to subscribers should be reimbursed. It said it is up to the NTC to order the telcos to provide a mechanism of reimbursement to the complainants for the charges illegally collected. “The matter addressed in the instant action is of extreme urgency and class complainants representing millions of subscribers and users of multitudes of cell phones will suffer grave injustice and irreparable injury, if (Smart, Globe and DMPI) are allowed to continue with the commission of illegal acts,” the consumer group said. In its 30-page filing with the agency, the complainants said they have been “duped” by the cellular firms because they are being charged for receiving spam messages, for dropped calls, and even for failed text messages. Spams messages are unsolicited and unwanted commercial and promotional advertisements such as music, ring tones, logos, video clips, among others. Content providers, in partnership with the cellular firms, are responsible for transmitting such value-added services via a set of four-digit access codes. Coup pointed out that millions of pesos are illegally collected everyday brought about by the unsolicited text messages. As such, it urged the commission to monitor and ban all four-digit access numbers. “Whether a message as sent or not, the load deducted from the subscriber could be credited to an account such as the four-digit numbers," said the group. Representatives of Smart, Globe and DMPI declined to comment, saying they have yet to receive a copy of the complaint. They are in discussions, however, with the NTC on crafting new rules that are aimed at providing better service to the consumers. Another issue raised by Coup is the delay in transmission of text messages, which, according to the complainants, is even worse than failed message sending. They also accused the cellular company of engaging in fraudulent schemes such as the free credit that comes with newly bought SIM (subscriber identification mode) card. “The cellular firms entice the public to buy prepaid SIM cards by making consumers believe that they are entitled to free load credits. The said free calls or text messages are not actually free, but rather part and parcel of the consideration being paid by consumers, because if such were truly free credits, they would be given to subscribers independent of any purchase. Therefore, they deceive the subscribers blind,” said the group. Smart, Globe and DMPI, added Coup, should be immediately restrained by the regulators from collecting and billing hidden and unjustified charges until the case filed by the Coup is resolved. Another fraudulent scheme, the complainants said, is the false advertisement. Through false advertisements and misrepresentations, the complainants said to people buy prepaid SIM cards, believing that they are entitled to load or credits for “free” text messages or “free” calls, thereby constituting the crime of swindling or estafa as defined and punishable by Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code. The other alleged fraudulent schemes include the spam or unsolicited messages that are illegally charged against subscribers, the “push” messages, illegal charging or deduction of loads for failed messages, full charge or load deductions for missed calls, interrupted and dropped calls, and for poor signal or reception. Domingo, a human rights lawyer, won an historic $2-billion judgment for victims of human rights violations during the martial law years against the estate of the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos in Hawaii. “The mysterious and unexplained disappearance of loads, false advertisement and illegal deductions of loads are tantamount to digitally robbing the millions of subscribers of billions of pesos throughout the year. While the amounts illegal deducted from the postpaid subscrib4ers could be easily determined, there is no way of knowing or checking for prepaid subscribers the robbery constantly perpetrated by the telcos. For this reason, class complainants invoke the power of the NTC to monitor and regulate the activities of the telcos and, thereafter, to impose appropriate penalties and sanctions for these malpractices,” said Coup. |
Monday, July 27, 2009
070209: 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.
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