Cable theft to be penalized

Freddie Tinga. congress.gov.ph photo

MANILA, Philippines—Cable tappers beware!

Illegal tapping of signals provided by any cable television (CATV) network or system and any cable internet system and the destruction or removal of authorized CATV or cable internet facilities will soon be penalized.

Taguig 2^nd District Representative Freddie R. Tinga, head of the Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) led the adoption of Senate Bill 3345 as an amendment to House Bill 00709, authored by Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.

“We have learned that cable theft has cost the industry about P6.3 billion in losses annually. With the proper safeguards, aside from subscribers getting better service and reception, the provider will be able to quickly recover investment cost which they in turn will be able to use on improving services like going digital, adding more content and other value added services,” Tinga said.

Senate Bill No. 3345 or the Anti-Cable Television and Cable Internet Tapping Act of 2012 has also been passed early this year and is now awaiting the President’s signature.

Tinga said once the bill is signed into law, it will be deemed unlawful to intercept or receive, or assist in intercepting or receiving any signal offered over a CATV system or a cable internet system by tapping or making any connection to a system without the authority of the concerned CATV or cable internet service provider.

The bill also prohibits recording, reproducing, distributing, importing or selling of any intercepted or received CATV system/network signals for commercial purposes without the authority of the concerned CATV or cable internet service provider, he explained.

People who, “wantonly, maliciously and willfully damage, destroy or remove CATV and/or Cable Internet facilities and accessories of authorized CATV and/or Cable Internet Service Providers will also be penalized.”

Tinga said violators shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than five years or a fine of not less than P50,000 nor more than P100,000 or both at the discretion of the court.

The National Telecommunications Commission shall, within 60 days after the effectivity of this Act, undertake an information dissemination campaign to inform the public of its existence, the lawmaker added.