MANILA, Philippines--Doing away with expiration dates for prepaid cellular phone “loads” might have been the better option than extending the cards’ shelf life, a party-list lawmaker has said.

Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino said in a statement Saturday that although the extension guidelines issued by the National Telecommunications Commission the other day provided some measure of relief to consumers, the agency should have compelled telecommunication companies not to put a deadline on cell phone credits.

“Increasing the shelf life of pre-paid loads is not enough to address the concerns of millions of subscribers,” he said. “The rationale behind prepaid expiration dates is that telcos (telecommunication firms) are dictating how consumers should use their load in order for them to rake in more profits. The loads should not have expiration dates in the first place."

Palatino said service providers impose a time limit on loads so that consumers would have to use them up faster and then buy more of the same. They should have the discretion to use up their prepaid minutes when they want to since they paid for this, he said.

“It is the consumers’ prerogative to choose to conserve their load and make them last. This is not like food or medicine that would spoil if they are not used at once,” he said.

The NTC on Friday issued guidelines extending the life of cell phone loads, with the expiration dates dependent on how much was bought.

The order came amid pressure from the Senate, which is investigating the practices of cell phone service providers after consumers complained that their prepaid credits were disappearing without their having been used.

Even Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile complained that he was a victim of what many refer to as “the vanishing load.”

Speaker Prospero Nograles on Saturday called on telecommunication firms to focus on offering more affordable cost-effective services to their customers.

“Affordable text messages and voice calls are great social equalizers, and I’m glad that one of our telecommunication firms is taking great strides to make it happen,” he said in a statement.

Nograles cited as an example the new “Call All Landline” service being offered by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company which now gives its customers an affordable option in making voice calls.

Under the new service, an existing PLDT landline subscriber may have a second SIM-based line which could be used with any open line handset. The second line could be taken outside the customer’s local service area (or home zone) and used to make calls to PLDT customers within the same local service area at no extra cost.

“This is welcome news, especially now that Filipino consumers are usually hard pressed to get more value for their hard-earned money. That’s why Congress is continuously trying to find ways to make basic necessities – such as telecommunications – more affordable for consumers,” Nograles said.