Yamsuan bill requires smartphone pawners to first get clearance from NTC
At A Glance
- Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan believes that there should to be a mechanism to prevent the sale or pawning of stolen smartphones.
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Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan believes that there should to be a mechanism to prevent the sale or pawning of stolen smartphones.
For this purpose, Yamsuan penned and filed House Bill (HB) No.7969, which directs pawnshops or other establishments buying second-hand telecommunications equipment such as mobile phones to ask the seller to obtain the necessary clearance from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to sell or pawn the article.
The establishment should also secure a clearance or permit from the station commander of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the town or city where it is located before buying the item.
“These requirements may appear to be cumbersome, but they are necessary to prevent the rise in street crimes involving the stealing of smartphones, which not only lead to loss of property but, in some unfortunate cases, to loss of lives as well,” said Yamsuan.
Street crimes involving cellphone theft appear to have increased when pawnshops started accepting smartphones as pawned items, noted he former assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
In 2019, the NTC received a total of 34,353 cellular phone blocking requests and concerns, which indicate that these goods were either lost or stolen. This number corresponds to an average of 2,863 cellphone blocking requests per month.
HB No.7969, which Yamsuan filed with Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte, aims to amend Presidential Decree (PD) No.1612 or the Anti-Fencing Law to include provisions requiring establishments to be stricter and more circumspect in accepting smartphones and other telecommunications gadgets being sold of pawned.
Any establishment that fails to get the necessary clearance and proof of purchase or ownership before accepting or buying a second-hand mobile phone shall be held liable for violating the Anti-Fencing Law and its permit or license to operate shall be revoked, as proposed under the bill.