By Roy Pelovello and Fel V. Maragay

REACTING to a bill that has not yet been filed, House Speaker Prospero Nograles yesterday expressed support for moves to impose a 10-centavo fee on text messages but said consumers should not shoulder the cost.

In a statement, Nograles said telecommunication firms should not pass on the cost to consumers because the P1 per text message they were charging was already too much.

He said the cost of text was about 25 centavos, but telephone firms charged an average of P1 per message for non-promo rates.

“Even if we charge a 10-centavo fee on every text sent, the telcos are still overcharging us by 65 cents per text,” Nograles said.

Nograles said the 10-centavo fee for each text message could go a long way in financing the government’s health care and educational programs, but the amount should be taken out from the regular cost being charged by mobile phone service providers.

Telecommunications companies should practice social responsibility by setting aside some P200 million from the approximately two billion text messages sent by Filipinos a day, Norgrales said.

“Being the so-called texting capital of the world, our people should be able to benefit from the billions of profits of our telcos,” he said.

“In the first place, text services should not even be charged, being a value added service, and since our telcos are raking in so much profit from this service, we might as well ask them to give back to our people.”

Nograles proposed that to avoid questions on the disbursement of the fees generated from text messages, the fund could be administered by a board composed of owners and telecom players and the health and education secretaries.

The board would manage the “exclusive trust fund” to make sure it was spent only to upgrade public schools, hospitals and health centers nationwide.

“In the Philippines, texting has become the cheapest and most reliable means of communication,” Nograles said.

“Telecom companies are well aware that it is the masses of the people, particularly the middle and lower classes, that sustain their profitable business at an average of two billion text messages per day at P1 per text message.”

Earlier, Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said consumers would likely bear the burden of the 10-centavo fee.

But senators yesterday said they would oppose any tax on text messaging.

“Texting is the cheapest means of communicating that is available to both the rich and the poor. Why should we impose a tax on it which will be to the disadvantage of the poor?” Senator Panfilo Lacson said.

Lacson, chairman of the ways and means committee, said he would not even schedule the proposed tax for hearing because it was patently unacceptable and untimely.

Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., chairman of the committee on public services, also opposed the tax.

“Every centavo is important to the people as they try to make both ends meet and overcome the economic crisis,” he said.

He urged government finance managers to look for other means of boosting state revenue.

Senator Manuel Villar said there should be a moratorium on new taxes while the country was reeling from the impact of the global financial crisis.

“Almost everybody, rich and poor, young and old, relies on texting... So let’s not touch it,” Villar said.

Senator Richard Gordon has a pending proposal that would require telecommunications companies to share a part of their gross income from texting with the government. The proceeds of the tax would be used to upgrade educational facilities.

The proposal has not gained ground because of opposition from telecommunications companies.

But Gordon said his bill would benefit the public school system that lacked at least 12,000 classrooms, four million chairs, 63 million textbooks, 39,000 teachers and 8,000 principals.

“I am not going after the telcos. I am going after poverty and the pitiful state of the country’s public educational system,” Gordon said.

The tax should not be shouldered by consumers, he said.