HEAVY penalties await those who will be found to have committed prank calls on national emergency hotlines once a proposed measure passes Congress.
In House Bill 10706 or the “Anti-Prank Caller Act,” it mentioned that about 2.54 million fraudulent or prank calls were received by the Emergency Hotline 911 in 2019.
In that same year, from the 18.4 million calls received, only 37,440 were legitimate while 16,763 were non-emergency calls.
The measure emphasizes that the number of prank calls have become alarming and bothersome, and will certainly put the lives of people in danger because of these types of calls.
The bill’s proposed response is to mete heavy penalties on those who will be proven to have committed these prank calls.
Under the bill, included among the penalties are “arresto menor” or incarceration of from one up to 30 days and a fine of P5,000 on the first offense; and “arresto mayor” or one month and one day up to six moths of jail time and a fine of P15,000 on the second offense.
“Prision correctional” or jail time of six months and one day or up to six years and a P30,000 fine on the third offense, and “prision mayor” or six years and one day up to 12 years of incarceration, plus a P50,000 fine on the fourth offense.