Bill filed mandating free disaster alerts from telcos

A bill was filed at the House of Representatives on Wednesday seeking to mandate mobile phone companies to provide free alerts during disasters.   House Bill 5660, filed by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño, seeks to require telecommunications service providers to give free up-to-date information to their subscribers on impending weather disturbances, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and other calamities.   The bill was filed days after tropical storm Sendong ravaged portions of Northern Mindanao over the weekend, causing the deaths of more than a thousand people.   The high death toll is partly being attributed to the lack of a warning system. The storm hit land during the wee hours of the morning, when residents were asleep.   Casiño said modern technology should be tapped to augment the government’s “inefficient” system of warning against disasters. “The ubiquity of mobile phones should be maximized to send out emergency alerts, at no cost to customers,” he said in the bill’s explanatory note.   The telecommunications companies shall get their updates from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and other relevant agencies, according to the measure.   If the bill becomes a law, a company which provides false updates or refuses to send information will be fined from P1 million to P10 million. Its legislative franchise will also be suspended or revoked.   The measure will have to undergo committee and plenary deliberations, and will have to get approval from a majority of House members before it can be passed by the House. — Andreo C. Calonzo/KBK, GMA News