ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo (Facebook)

ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo is eyeing the filing of a bill that would slap a jail term of up to six years for scammers who victimize senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs). 

Tulfo, the deputy majority leader for communications, said he would file the bill on Monday, July 15, or a week before the start of the third regular session of Congress. 

“Kahit piso pa yan, makukulong ka pag-iniscam mo yung kaawa-awang senior o 

PWD, dahil wala kang puso," Tulfo said in justifying his bill. 

(Even if its for just one peso, you will get jailed if you scam pitiful senior or PWDs, because you have no heart.) 

The bill is titled, “An Act Protecting the Integrity of the Electronic Transactions of Senior Citizens and PWDs, Defining for the Purpose the Crime of Internet and Telecommunications Phishing and Fraudulent Practices Against Senior Citizens and PWDs and Providing Penalties Therefore.” 

It aims to provide robust protection for senior citizens and PWDs by clearly defining and penalizing internet and telecommunications fraud targeting them. 

The former broadcast journalist say he has received numerous complaints from seniors and PWDs about heartless individuals who dupe them. 

“Sa kanilang pension o konting ipon lang umaasa ang mga senior tapos gagatasan o nanakawin pa ng mga manggagantso," Tulfo said. 

(These seniors rely on their meager pension or saving to survive, and yet we have these fraudsters who milk them dry.) 

He said PWDs, who are also among the vulnerable sectors, deserve the same protection from the proposed measure. 

The proposed penalties include imprisonment ranging from three months to six years or more, depending on the amount taken from the senior or PWD, especially if their savings or pensions are exhausted due to the scam by individuals or syndicates. 

“We need to protect our elders and PWDs sa panahon ngayong usong-uso ang mga scam (during these times when scams are commonplace)," the neophyte legislator stated. 

Any person found guilty of committing the act of phishing, internet fraud, or telecommunications fraud where the offended party is a senior citizen or PWD at the time of the commission shall be punished by imprisonment of three years and one day to six years, plus a fine of at least P500,000 as determined by the regular courts, or the amount equivalent to the total damage incurred to the offended party, whichever is higher.