NTC seeks Comelec ruling on text campaigning

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to clarify if campaigning through text messages will be allowed in the May elections. NTC chief of staff Lucio Espinoza said the regulatory body will amend an existing circular issued in August last year against text spam, or bulk sending of messages, and to include rules on campaigning through cellular phone SMS (short message service). “Based on the existing fair election code, only paid advertisements in television and newspapers are included. It does not contain (rules on) campaigning through texts. Our legal department will write today (Tuesday) to Comelec to seek clarification and to ask guidelines on campaigning through text," Espinoza told reporters on Tuesday. "Our legal department will evaluate the circular on text spam. We will include campaigning through text if the Comelec says it is allowed. What we want is to regulate the text campaigns so that only those who want to receive will be sent," said Espinoza. He noted that the NTC is not against election campaign through text. "We will not prohibit it. We will only regulate it. If the text message will be coursed through a content provider then the NTC can always govern them because of an existing circular on text spam," said Espinoza. Mobile phone firms and content providers are required to keep text data records of subscribers who choose to receive advertisements via broadcast messaging service. The records serve as proof that the subscriber has voluntarily opted to receive the broadcast messages. Mobile phone firms and content providers face stiff penalties from the NTC under the circular against text spam. The phone firms and content providers with more than 50 violations will be fined P200 per violation. Their provisional authority or certificate of public conveyance would also be canceled. Violations numbering from 20 to 50 would entail a penalty of P200 per violation, blacklisting and suspension of certificates, while phone firms with violations of 20 or less will pay P200 per violation. Regular opt-out instructions will be sent once a week for daily subscriptions and once a month for weekly subscriptions. Broadcast messages must also not be sent between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. except on paid subscription services. Subscribers who do not reply to broadcast messages will be considered to have not opted-in and such broadcast shall be stopped. Opting-in and out should be free of charge. -GMANews.TV