Lawmaker questions telco’s P50 late payment penalty

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker has urged a telecommunications giant to reconsider its new policy of charging customers P50 for late payments, stressing that internet and mobile communications are now considered essential services for Filipinos.

This comes after Globe announced this week that postpaid subscribers will have to cough up P50 if they fail to pay their monthly bill before their due date. In its advisory sent to postpaid users, Globe said: “We encourage you to pay on time to keep your services active.”

In a statement, Rep. France Castro (ACT Teachers) has called on Globe Telecom Inc. to rethink its imposition of a P50 late payment penalty and expressed concerns that other telecom giants might start charging similar fees.

Mobile and internet services are “no longer a luxury but a necessity in this day and age,” the lawmaker stressed.

“It is a public utility that should be primarily for the public good and not mainly for profit," Castro said.

The lawmaker also scored the telecom giant for imposing penalties on late payments even as its services allegedly remain unstable.

"When they fail, and this frequently happens, it's just an apology. However, if a subscriber is a bit late with their payment, there's an immediate penalty," Castro said in Filipino.

Castro added that the additional fee comes at a time when around 13.2 million families self-rated themselves as poor in the third quarter of the year, according to a recent Social Weather Station (SWS) survey.

The Makabayan bloc lawmaker also renewed her calls for members of the Senate to fast-track its version of House Bill 9021, which mandates telecom companies and internet service providers to refund subscribers for service outages and disruptions.

HB 9021 or the “Refund for Internet and Telecommunications Services Outages and Disruptions Act” was unanimously approved on final reading in September.

Philstar.com has reached out to Globe for comment and will update this story with its response.