BAYANTEL asked the help of barangay officials and the police in the province of Albay to help stop the theft of telecom cables in a forum entitled “Dialogue with the Barangay Chairmen”. Sponsored by the PNP Albay Provincial Office, the dialogue was attended by barangay chairpersons of Daraga and Legazpi City, Bayantel representatives, PNP officials and a representative of the LGU Legazpi City.

        Bayantel’s head for Network in South Luzon Arnon Cagampang explained that the theft of telecoms cable in Albay is so rampant thus hampering the speedy restoration of telecom facilities that were already damaged by typhoons Milenyo and Reming.

        Cagampang further emphasized that two basic telecom services run through the copper cable: the basic telephone and the data communication. Much affected by these thefts is the banking industry, as ATMs Online depend on elecoms cables.

        The parties agreed to draft a manifesto condemning and abhorring the act of theft of telecoms facilities. The purpose of the manifesto is to have a local version of the Anti-Fencing Law to be endorsed to the provincial council of Albay, city and municipal councils of Legaspi and Daraga, respectively.

        Meanwhile, Bayantel has been doing various initiatives to go after these cable thieves. They have made joint operations with local authorities resulting in several arrests, conducted barangay fora to discuss approaches to key installations, redesigned installations to prevent theft and fielded undercover security people to watch junkshops andresidences of suspected thieves. These initiatives have led to the arrest of suspected big time buyers of stolen cables.

        “Bayantel’s commitment to restore its badly damaged facilities has not wavered in any way and in fact, we have poured a lot of extra resources in terms of manpower and materials for this purpose,” said General Manager for Bicol Jim Casin.