House passes bills on internet refunds, bank secrecy reform

MANILA — The House of Representatives on Monday approved two landmark bills aimed at improving internet service accountability and enhancing financial transparency in the Philippines.

With a 271–0 vote on third and final reading, lawmakers passed House Bill (HB) No. 178, which mandates automatic refunds for internet and telecommunications service outages lasting at least 24 hours in a month.

Under the measure, public telecommunications entities (PTEs) and internet service providers (ISPs) must issue pro-rated bill adjustments without requiring customer complaints.

“The concerned PTEs and ISPs shall apply an automatic bill adjustment, without [the] need for [the] consumer to initiate [a] request, after a standard process, but shall not preclude the consumer from filing a complaint to the appropriate administrative or quasi-judicial agency for disputes regarding refund or bill adjustment amount,” the bill states.

The proposed law exempts outages due to network maintenance, force majeure events, or actions by third parties or subscribers. Providers that fail to comply face fines ranging from PHP 50,000 to PHP 200,000 per violation.

Repeat offenders may have their licenses, registrations or franchises revoked, in addition to waiving pre-termination fees for affected customers and releasing any remaining credits related to service downtimes.

In a related move to improve connectivity, the House also unanimously passed HB No. 22.

The measure seeks to institutionalize a zero-spectrum user fee policy for telecommunications companies using specific Wi-Fi frequencies, aiming to reduce internet costs and expand access nationwide.

The legislative body also approved HB No. 6707, which proposes amendments to the country’s decades-old Bank Secrecy Law.

The measure grants the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) limited authority to examine bank deposits when there is “reasonable suspicion” of unlawful activity — a move intended to bolster efforts against tax evasion, money laundering, and other financial crimes.

During the session, the chamber again voted unanimously in favor of the measure, which aligns the Philippines with global standards on financial transparency and regulatory oversight.

According to the bill, the BSP may initiate a deposit inquiry during the investigation of closed banks or when its Monetary Board has sufficient basis to believe that fraud, irregularities, or unlawful acts have been committed by directors, officers, trustees, employees, agents, or conspirators tied to BSP-supervised institutions.

The bill defines “deposits” to include funds credited to commercial, checking, savings, time or thrift accounts, as well as other bank obligations categorized as deposit liabilities under BSP rules.

The results of such inquiries are restricted to official use by the BSP, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the Department of Justice, and the courts.

To protect financial institutions, the measure provides a safe harbor clause that shields banks, their directors, and employees from legal liability for acts performed in compliance with BSP-authorized inquiries. However, it imposes strict confidentiality provisions and prohibits misuse of the law for persecution, harassment, or anti-competitive practices.

Violations of the proposed law could lead to imprisonment of two to 10 years or fines ranging from PHP 50,000 to PHP 2 million, or both, depending on the court’s discretion.

The House is set to transmit all three approved bills to the Senate for further deliberation.