By Sammy F. Martin
MANILA, July 10 (PNA) — Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares welcomed on Friday the news that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) already scrapped the new SIM card provision on the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act so that the law will finally be implemented.
“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. 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,” said Colmenares, the principal author of the law.
Colmenares said he is is hoping Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and PAGASA Administrator Vicente Malano would immediately sign the law’s IRR.
“The law will also punish pranksters or individuals who would send false alerts or information. The penalty would be imprisonment of 2 to 6 months and a fine of one thousand to ten thousand pesos. 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 to 29,” he explained.
“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 Php1 million to Php10 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. (PNA)