Monday, October 01, 2007 Senate aims for cell phone theft eradication
SENATE President Manuel Villar Jr. said the Senate is putting high up in its agenda the measure that will curb the alarming incidents of cellular phone theft in the Philippines.
“The sudden boom of the mobile phone industry in the country opens up a new permutation of the criminal activity which led not only to loss of properties but of lives as well. The countless victims of cell phone theft signal the need to come up with legal regulatory measures to effectively address this problem,” stressed Villar.
He lamented that based on police records, cell phone crimes are not simple cases of theft and robbery anymore since in increasing number of cases, the victims were even killed in the process.
He also cited records of the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) showing that from 2002 to 2005, almost 70,000 cell phones were reported lost and stolen.
He stressed that he “expects the figures to go up as we know a huge number of cell phone thefts go unreported. Stolen or lost cell phones of prepaid subscribers, which composed 90 percent of cell phone users, are also excluded here.”
Under Senate Bill (SB) 1618 filed by Villar, any person guilty of cell phone theft shall suffer penalty of eight to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of not less than P20,000.
The bill also proposes to impose the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of not less than P50,000 when a cell phone theft resulted in death of a victim. (CPB/Sunnex)
