Prank callers who think that aiming at emergency hotlines and, in turn, impeding the government’s ability to respond to genuine urgent cases and think that the act will come with impunity will be in a rude awakening when the “Anti-Prank Callers Act” becomes law.
Per House Bill 03851 or the “An Act Penalizing Prank Callers to Emergency Hotlines,” petitioned by Paranaque City 2nd District Rep. Gustavo Tambunting, it described the issue as being calls committed by fraudsters that are aimed at tricking someone by using false emergency information in an attempt of causing any form of discomfort to the receiver.
To dissuade prank callers, the bill proposes a penalty of a Php5,000 fine on top of jail time for the first offense; a Php10,000 fine on top of jail time for the second offense; and a Php20,000 fine on top of jail time for the third offense.
Per Memorandum Order No. 0707-206 as issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and Executive Order No. 56 or “Institutionalizing the Emergency 911 Hotline as the Nationwide Emergency Answering Point, Replacing Patrol 117, and for other purposes,” 911 is designated as the country’s emergency hotline.