Press Release
September 30, 2007

Senate to curb cell phone theft in the country, says Villar

Senate President Manny Villar today said the Senate is putting high up in its agenda the measure that will curb the alarming number of incidents of cellular phone theft in the Philippines, the country dubbed as the texting capital of the world.

Villar said the bill that seeks to impose heavy penalties on perpetrators of cellular phone theft is among the 14 priority bills agreed upon by the senators.

"The sudden boom of the mobile phone industry in the country opens up a new permutation of criminal activity which led not only to loss of properties but of lives as well. The countless victims of cellphone theft signal the need to come up with legal and regulatory measures to effectively address this problem," Villar said.

The Nacionalista Party president lamented that based on police records, cellphone theft already accounts for over one-third of robbery cases nationwide. Moreover, cellphone crimes are not simple cases of theft and robbery anymore since in increasing number of cases, the victims were hurt or even killed in the process.

Villar also cited the statistics from the National Telecommunications Commission showing that from 2002 to 2005, almost 70,000 cellphones were reported lost and stolen nationwide.

"We expect the figures to go up as we know a huge number of cellphone thefts go unreported. Stolen or lost cellphones of prepaid subscribers, which composed 90 percent of cellphone users, are also excluded here," he stressed.

Under Senate Bill 1618 filed by Villar, any person guilty of cellphone theft shall suffer the penalty of eight to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of not less than P20,000.

Where death results from cellphone theft, the bill proposed to impose the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine not less than P50,000.

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