DAVAO CITY – A partylist lawmaker is urging the officials of the Department of Transportation and Communication and the Philippine Atmospheric and Geographical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) to immediately sign the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act.
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares who authored the law said DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and Pagasa administrator Vicente Malano “are the only ones who have not yet signed the IRR.”
“Our main purpose when we authored the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act is to save lives and property of our countrymen during calamities so we wanted it to be immediately implemented. But it was hampered by corporate greed, by trying to make free alerts free at all,” said Colmenares who welcomed the news that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) already scrapped the new SIM card provision on the IRR.
The Free Mobile Disaster Alert s Act requires all telecommunication companies (Telcos) to send out text or MMS messages to all subscribers of the impending calamity. The message should also contain the required preparation, the address of the nearest evacuation center and the location and schedule of relief distribution In the event of an impending tropical storm, typhoon, floods, tsunami, or other calamities, Mobile phone service providers are mandated to send out alerts at regular intervals issued by the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) and Pagasa, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and other agencies.
“It has been more than a year since its enactment but the law has not been implemented yet, I hope that the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts can be implemented within the month especially since numerous storms are entering our country,” Colmenares said.
Colmenares said the law will also punish pranksters or individuals who would send false alerts or information.
The penalty would be imprisonment of two months to six months and a fine of P1,000 to P10,000.
Foreigners who would violate the law would also be deported and would no longer be allowed entry in the country.
“The penalty should prevent false alarms just like what happened the other day when an SMS was sent saying that a big earthquake would happen on July 27-29,” he added.
“As for corporations they would also be penalized for sending false alerts or not sending alerts when they are mandated. Their penalty would range from 1 million to 10 million fines as well as the revocation of its franchises issued by the NTC. The fines would also be imposed on all their board members,” Colmenares said.(davaotoday.com)
