Malacanang admits attempt to deceive people over P0.50 promo text rate -- TXTPower

PRESS STATEMENT
July 30, 3008

Today, Malacanang indirectly admitted that President Arroyo deliberately lied to the public in her SONA speech when she announced the alleged new P0.50 price of text messaging.

Malacanang’s press office today released separate statements coming from Smart, Globe and Sun that separately say that the P0.50 price announced by the President is ONLY A PROMO OR A GIMMICK.

Availing of the P0.50 promo price is not instant. One has to register first and pay at least P20 to avail of this supposedly lower price. Why should we be made to pay P20 first? Where is the savings there? The whole set-up defeats the purpose of easing the burden of telecommunication costs.

It is thus clear that President Arroyo and her administration should be held accountable for willfully and knowingly deceiving the public.

The P0.50 is not just a GIMMICK but an insult to the intelligence of the consumers. The belated Palace statement that the President favors to make the P0.50 promo price permanent is merely an attempt to
save-face from this PR disaster.

Text messaging has cost even must less than P0.50. For as little as P10, a consumer may now avail of unlimited texting services through the the telcos’ promo offerings. What the President and the NTC should do is to look at these promo offerings and examine how to make them permanent offers. Government must also remove VAT and reduce interconnection charges which will immediately result in lower prices not just for text but also for calls and other telecom services.

Reference:
Anthony Ian “Tonyo” Cruz
TXTPower president
www.tonyocruz.com
0917-8128827