STATEMENT OF SENATOR WIN GATCHALIAN ON THE IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY ACT

Upholding the welfare of consumers is one of the primary reasons why we championed the passage of the Mobile Number Portability Act (MNPA) in the 17th Congress. In keeping with this spirit, I believe that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) was able to draft a consumer-friendly implementing rules and regulations (IRR), especially in specifying the prerequisites for porting, and the terms of the time periods for cutover and the porting process itself, among others.

However, the IRR itself is not without flaws. It would have been a major win for consumers had there been less grounds to reject applications for mobile number portability. After all, we want to encourage consumers to avail this service, especially when they feel they are not getting the service they deserve from their respective networks.

Nevertheless, we thank the NTC for the speedy issuance of the MNPA's IRR. With this, mobile number portability is finally within the reach of every Filipino.