Service interruptions from telcos and ISPs can be very inconvenient, especially in this age where we practically depend on the internet for almost all of our activities. Service interruptions, especially long ones, also mean that you don’t get good value for money with your telco and ISP. As a response, Senator Jinggoy Estrada proposes that there should be an auto refund when subscribers experience service interruptions that are at least 24 hours accumulated in a month.

“Serbisyo ang binabayaran natin. Kapag hindi ka nakabayad ng iyong bill sa itinakda nilang due date ng pagbabayad, mabilis pa sa alas kwatro ang pagputol nila ng linya. Kung hindi rin naman nila matutumbasan ang serbisyong binabayaran natin, dapat ikaltas ito sa ating mga bayarin,” Estrada said in a press statement, where he filed Senate Bill 2074–or known as the Refund for Internet and Telecommunications Service Outages and Disruptions Act–last April 17.

Under the proposed bill, public telecommunication entities (PTEs) and ISPs are required to implement a system where they can automatically refund or adjust the bills of their postpaid and prepaid subscribers whenever there are service interruptions that accumulates to more than 24 hours in a month.

“This measure intends to implement fair charging of services of telcos and ISPs to the consumers. It is important that they receive the service that is worth every cent that they pay, and they will not be charged for the service that they were not able to avail of,” Estrada emphasized.