Profits of telecommunications companies will shoot up if they return to the public millions of their profits in text messages, Sen. Richard Gordon said Tuesday.

 

"Their profits will grow stronger if they will provide funds for education and health. People will use their service more. More people will [send] text [messages]," Gordon said in an interview on ABS-CBN's morning show, "Umagang Kay Ganda."

 

Gordon has filed Senate Bill 2402, which proposes that 20 percent of daily text message profit of telcos in text messages be allocated to a special fund that would solve the country's problems in education and health.

 

The senator said telcos rake in P2 billion in text message charges a year. He said P200 million of the profit, which goes to advertisement and promotions, can solve the country's backlog in classrooms and provide more health services to the poor.

 

He added that the P200 million daily will help boost the country's campaign for a world-class education system.

 

"Let's set aside P200 million daily. Every problem we have in education and health will be solved," Gordon said.

 

 

In the phone interview, Gordon showed disregard for possible objections on the part of telecom companies. He said that this shouldn’t be much of a problem given the companies’ so-called “windfall profit.”

 

According to Gordon, telecom companies got P77B in net income. Given this, 20 percent of said amount will be very useful for education programs. 

 

He noted that the government will only be getting funds from text charges, leaving profits from voice calls to the telecom companies.

 

Gordon emphasized that telecom companies may actually end up gaining more revenues with his proposal. He said that Filipinos may be more encouraged to send text messages knowing that part of it will benefit those who are poor and uneducated.

 

 

Gordon's bill support's Speaker Prospero Nograles's proposal "text for a worthy cause." 

 

Instead of cutting down the cost of texting, the House Speaker wants telcos to allocate at least 20 percent of their profit to a trust fund for education and health care.

 

"This way, our texters will be texting for a worthy cause," Nograles said.

 

The lawmaker said there was wisdom in Gordon's proposal to compel telcos to set aside a modest part of their texting charges and return it to the people in terms of health care and education programs.

 

He said one of the biggest problems in the country's educational and health care systems is the severe shortage of school buildings and classrooms, as well as well-equipped barangay clinics and provincial hospitals.

 

Nograles explained that even the increases in appropriations for both the Department of Health and the Department of Education are still not enough to cover the backlog in both sectors.