Cable thieves will be punished, says CATV association

Cable television companies and the Philippine Cable Television Association (PCTA) have rolled out a wide-reaching campaign against the theft of CATV signals and the proliferation of illegal cable television connections with police-led operations in the cities of Mandaluyong, Makati and Las Piñas where illegal cable TV connections are rampant.

The campaign netted recently two bogus linemen who were caught red-handed stealing cable wires at Clairemont Townhomes in Acacia Lane, Mandaluyong City.

In his sworn statement at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group at Camp Crame, Clairemont Townhomes security guard Hernaldo Manangan said he caught Marlon Achazo and Rodulph de Castro in the act of illegally dismantling cable wires while doing his rounds.

The two men introduced themselves as employees of a prominent cable company doing a routine inspection at Clairemont Townhomes, he added.

Confiscated from Achazo and De Castro were two fake ID cards, 16 cable connectors, various wire-splicing paraphernalia and an estimated 300 feet of cable wire. They will be charged with falsification of private documents and theft.

Last month, combined elements of police, barangay officials and representatives of cable TV companies swooped down on Veraville and Angela Village in Las Piñas and on Barangays Tejeros, Kasilawan and Olympia in Makati as part of a series of raids in different cities in Metro Manila.

The raiding teams dismantled almost 300 illegal cable connections in one tenement alone. The bulk of the connections were found to be sourced from the main cable line that was spliced by cable pirates. Illegal connections were then expanded using multi-channel splitters.

National Telecommunications Commissioner Ronald Olivar Solis lauded the industry’s anti-cable theft drive and assured cable companies of the government’s continued support.

"I’m glad that the cable industry is taking a proactive approach to its problem while the government is crafting a law prohibiting cable theft," Solis said.

PCTA vice chairman Elpidio Paras said various cable companies are waging the campaign in behalf of legitimate subscribers who are being robbed of quality cable signals and their money.

He also warned that cable companies would file and pursue legal actions against individuals caught installing or utilizing illegal cable connections.

Charges will include qualified theft, which carries a jail term of six to 12 years if proven guilty, he added.

Cable companies, in fact, have successfully pursued a number of different cases arising from cable theft.

In 2002, one individual was convicted of estafa for posing as an employee of a certain cable company and offering his victims an illegal upgrade of their CATV signals. The accused was arrested through an entrapment operation and was sentenced to jail.

Another individual was caught in the act of installing illegal cable connections using the materials of various cable TV companies. The accused was charged with theft in the Manila regional trial court. An additional charge of malicious mischief has reached the Manila prosecutor’s office.

"Illegal cable connections have become so rampant in Metro Manila that many of subscribers are now feeling its impact," Paras said.

"However, many legitimate subscribers still don’t know they are being had. They are virtually paying for other people’s illegal cable connections," he added.

Paras pegged the ratio of illegal connections and legitimate subscribers at 1:1. "That means that for each subscriber there is an equal number of an illegal connection," he said.

Cable theft has ballooned so much that complaints about signal quality from paying subscribers have increased dramatically since last year, Paras said.

A test conducted by PCTA engineers revealed that illegal cable connections degrade the cable signal quality by 30 to 40 percent, which results in ghost images, white lines and blurring of pictures.

Paras urged cable subscribers to report illegal cable connections to their respective cable providers.