HOUSE Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Ma20-percentmamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima filed House Bill (HB) 9859 that aims to provide a 20-percent discount on mobile load and internet services to Filipino students.
“We fully support Sen. Bam Aquino in enacting this proposal that will surely be a big help for our students. Every peso that they will save on this educational expense is a reduction on their and their families’ worries and burdens. Let us provide Filipino students, our future leaders, with all the help they rightfully deserve,” de Lima said in a statement on Wednesday.
The measure, which was filed last June 11 and adopts Aquino’s Senate Bill 126, filed inJuly 2025, covered prepaid mobile load for text, call and data; postpaid mobile plans; and broadband and internet services “used for educational purposes.” A condition under HB 9859 for entitlement to the proposed 20-percent discount was the presentation of a valid school ID or proof of enrollment.
It mandates that the discount would be available throughout the year, including weekends and holidays, and would apply only to personal education use.
Under the bill, if a promotional discount from a telecommunication company is more than 20 percent, then the student could choose one of either discount.
It would allow telecommunication companies to claim, subject to rules that would be promulgated by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, tax deductions equal to the discount granted.
If enacted, telecommunication companies found to have refused its discount shall be fined P50,000 for the first offense, P100,000 for the second offense, and P200,000 for the third and subsequent offenses.
The measures provides penalties for retailers “who, without justifiable reason, fail or refuse to provide the student load discount or who impose conditions contrary to” its intent: P25,000 for the first offense; P50,000 for the second offense; and P100,000 “and possible disqualification or blacklisting from being an accredited load or service retailer for the third and subsequent offices.”