Lower cost of SMS, MMS; Make texting more convenient for relief, rescue efforts

KABATAAN Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today urged Congress to bury all text tax proposals once and for all as a “new” text tax bill was introduced by text tax proponents in the House Committee level early this morning.

During today’s committee hearing for the text tax bill, the House Committee on Ways and Means intorduced a new text tax bill “worse than the earlier proposal.” If before, the proponents wanted P0.05 in additonal tax per text message, they now want ten percent of gross receipts of all messages onsumers buy, according to TxtPower.

Palatino said that the public would still be burdened if the new proposed legislation pushes through. “They are at it again. Despite public outrage, solons pushing for text tax have not wavered. Apparently, hindi pa sila nalo-low batt pagdating sa usaping ito. I urge Congress to archive these bills immediately. It is unjust and terribly untimely to be imposing a new tax burden on our people especially during these hard times,” he said.

The young solon said instead of introducing a tax that would increase the cost of texting, solons should instead endeavor to even lower its cost after the National Telecommunications Commission found SMS cost only P0.10 to P0.11 .

Palatino also said that the important role played by texting in flood rescue and relief operations should force the House of Representatives to bury all text tax proposals.

“Texting was maximized to inform rescuers about the location and needs of flood victims. Contact details of relief agencies, donation drop-off centers, and government emergency response teams were also disseminated through texting,” Palatino said.

The young solon also said citizen videos captured through mobile phones helped relatives and rescue teams in locating stranded victims and gave Filipinos a better picture of the damage brought about by Typhoon Ondoy. Aside from short message sending (SMS), other mobile services such as multimedia media sending are also included in the text tax proposal, he said. ###