Instead of reducing the P1 text charge, telecommunication firms are willing to allocate half of their income from text messaging or P0.50 per text to health and education programs as investment in youth.
Sen. Richard Gordon said he was surprised to hear that Globe Telecom, Smart Communications and Sun Cellular executives were amenable to his idea when they discussed it during a Senate hearing.
He said keeping the P1 cost of text could make a lot of difference.
"I am against the removal of the P1-charge on text. There are 55 million Filipinos with cellphones today and with just one text message a day per cellphone user, that's P55 million. What we can do is leave half of every peso to telcos and they can live with that. But the other 50 cents, let's put it in a program called Health and Education Acceleration Program (HEAP)," Gordon said.
The program comes following a 50 percent cut on text rates in the next three months, which the telecommunications firms granted and President Arroyo announced last Monday.
Gordon said he was touched to hear the telcos' representatives state their desire to uplift the quality of education and health programs in the country.
"I did not expect it, I actually shed a tear when they said they were willing to set aside the 50 cents for the program on health and education," he said.
"Are you happy with the education of your children today? Are you happy with the quality of teaching today? Are their schools okay? Their books? Do they have computers? Do they eat on time in school? Based on that premise, I will ask you now, is it okay for you to pay P1 per text but provide your children public education that can be seen in America and other First World countries?" Gordon asked.
He said under his proposal, the P1 per text charge would remain for five years since half of the telcos' revenues would automatically go to HEAP.
Gordon's Senate Bill 2402 seeks to create the HEAP Corp., which will be a government corporation that will spearhead the rehabilitation and acceleration of education and health infrastructure in the country.
Under the HEAP, every commercial mobile service provider shall be required to remit to the HEAP fund half of its net revenue earnings arising from local text messages. Initial estimates place the amount to be generated at around P98.7 billion a year, which will be a fund separate from the budget allocated by government for public education.
These funds shall be earmarked for the construction of classrooms, computer and science laboratories, clean cafeterias and school facilities.
"I don't think our telcos are so hard hearted and so attached to their billions in profits that they won't see this as a direct way to lift millions of our people out of the cycle of poverty by providing them the best quality education possible," he said.
"By lifting people out of poverty, it is not unlikely that the telcos will also be assured of not only continued demand for their services but also a higher demand for higher value services," Gordon said. - Aurea Calica/Philstar
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10 comments:
for me it is better that telecommunication firms allocate half of their income on text messaging rather than reduce it to half because text messaging is not a basic need. if it is at 1 peso and half of that will be donated to the health and education programs it would benefit more people and also for a simple text i can help people too.
Wow! never expected this to happen. Instead of lowering the cost of text messaging, they'll just give it to the Health and Education Acceleration Program. I for one have no protest against this action. It is alright for me to send text messages for P1.00 because it would still be beneficial though not for me but for my fellow brothers and sisters. Truly this is a good idea. This action proves that not all Businessmen are greedy, some are not. I just hope that the officials who will be leading the HEAP program are not corrupt officials because of what I red, HEAP would be a government controlled corporation.
if this happens, then texting will not only help us communicate with each other, it will also help other people through the HEAP program, a truly brilliant idea, just hope that the leader of the government corp of HEAP will not be corrupt
That's a great idea, sharing half of their profits for sensible stuff. In every text message that we send, we contribute for a good cause. That's how you run a business. You propose ideas that can not only help others, but can benefit yourselves as well.
Text messaging has made a big impact on our lives. I mean, almost everyone has a cellphone and has texted at least a few hundreds of messages. So contributing 50 cents per text message to HEAP will help a huge number of people. This is a really good idea and they should have thought about this years ago.
This is a great way of donation, I'm speechless.
I am certainly glad that those telecommunication companies have thought of such idea. In that manner, they are increasing their profit and at the same time helping the people in need. It just basically shows that there are still business leaders out there who does not think of their own "share", but also the benefit of other people.
This is really an unexpected news. I guess businessmen are really not always after the profits of their business. They just proved that business is a way of helping yourself and other people. I salute them. From now on, I will send more text messages as a support in this project! :)
i am happy to hear that the telecommunication companies are open in allocating half the revenue to help the govt in their effort in bringing better service and quality of life to the people of this country.
this is goog the country really needs it
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