AMONG NINE BILLS PASSED BY SENATE:
Heavier penalties for cell phone theft

The Senate passed a total of nine bills mainly addressing social justice in the country and seeking to uplift the coping capabilities of ordinary Filipinos.

"This accomplishment only manifests our strong will and objective to improve the lives of our people and help them cope with the times," Senate President Manny Villar said.

"In approving these important measures, we fix our focus on the lot of our ordinary countrymen who long to experience better lives," he stressed, "This is our commitment."

Among the nine bills passed by the Senate is the Anti-Cellular Phone and Gadgets Theft Act authored by Villar and Sen. Richard Gordon which provides for stiffer penalties to theft of mobile phones.

"This measure should mitigate the alarming increase of mobile phone theft in the country and discourage the crime perpetrated against our masses who heavily rely on the tool," emphasized Villar.

"We passed this bill in the light of the fact that possession of mobile phones among our people is very common and necessary, thus, protection from theft of this kind has become important," he said.

Under the measure, any person guilty of cellular phone theft shall suffer the penalty of six to 20 years of imprisonment, and in case of death of victim, the maximum penalty of life imprisonment / reclusion perpetua shall be meted out.

"We cannot allow the unhampered thievery of mobile phones which has become a fast and easy source of livelihood for these offenders," Villar said.

The Senate President said that statistics from the National Telecommunications Commission showed that from 2002 to 2005, almost 70,000 cellphones were reported lost and stolen nationwide. Among cell phone users in the country, 91 percent are prepaid subscribers, many of whom fail to report incidents of mobile phone theft.

Other bills passed were "An Act to provide for quality affordable medicines" which seeks to give poor patients access to cheaper medicines; rules and regulations in the presentation of suspects in press conferences; bill granting good conduct time allowance to deserving prisoners; providing protection to household helpers; amendments to the Small and Medium Enterprises Law; bill creating the Office of Environmental Education to promote environmental awareness; the measure promoting breastfeeding especially among working mothers; and the bill providing more retirement benefits to judges and justices.

The Senate President further said, "I acknowledge the hard work displayed by my colleagues and our harmonious team effort which enabled us to fasttrack the passage of these measures."