MANILA, Philippines—Vice President supports the ongoing Senate investigation into the disappearance of pre-paid mobile phone loads, saying he himself was a victim of the same "theft."

Speaking on his radio program, “Para Sa Iyo, Bayan,” on Saturday, De Castro said he lost the P300 he loaded in his pre-paid phone when he returned from an official trip to Syria where he led the inauguration of the Philippine embassy in Damascus last April 15.

“Hindi ko naman nagamit iyon sa abroad pero pagbalik ko ubos na load ko. Sabi nag-expire na (I wasn’t able to use it when I was abroad but when I came back the load was gone. I was informed it expired),” he said.

De Castro said putting an expiry on pre-paid cards was wrong since these have already been bought and paid for in cash.

“Buti na lang si Senator Juan Ponce Enrile ang nawalan kaya naimbistigahan bigla iyan. Dapat mahinto na iyang pagnanakaw na iyan (It’s a good thing it was Senator Juan Ponce Enrile lost a load. That robbery should be stopped),” he said.

Senator Joker Arroyo said there was obviously some collusion between the telecommunication companies offering pre-paid card services and the National Telecommunications Commission.

During the Senate hearing on the case of Enrile’s missing load, an NTC executive said it was a deregulated industry and cited the nine-year-old temporary restraining order issued by a court on the NTC when it tried to fix the rates for customers.

“I have a feeling that the telcos and NTC are in collusion because how in the world can you believe that a TRO lasted this long. It is inconceivable that an injunction is imposed for nine years without the government doing anything about it,” he said.

Arroyo said there was no need for remedial legislation to address the issue since the law itself was strong.