Metro Manila was recently hit by Typhoon Ondoy leaving people’s homes submerged in flood. The easiest way to help is by donating through SMS. Send your SMS donations for Ondoy victims to the following:

Philippine National Red Cross (SMS or G-CASH)

RED <amount> to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart)

DONATE <amount> <4-digit M-PIN> REDCROSS to 2882

TXTPower
Globe GCash: 0917-9751092
Smart Money: 5577-5144-1866-7103

All donations coursed through TXTPower will be sent to the Philippine National Red Cross.

Following persistent public protest, the House of Representatives is now retreating from its the plan to impose a five-centavo tax on text messages two weeks after approving it for plenary voting on Sept. 8.

The panel agreed to conduct more hearings and approved the motion of Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez to reconsider the approval of Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric Singson’s House bill 6625.

TxtPower told the panel that since the last meeting on Sept. 8, it “did not provide the public, including oppositors, an opportunity to attend and be heard.”

The Cellphone Owners and Users of the Philippines (COUP) had also filed a lawsuit,

“The class suit is filed in order to prevent temporarily, and later on permanently, the illegal, prohibitive and unconstitutional imposition of an excise tax on SMS and overseas calls.” the lawsuit claimed.

There was also an online protest created by OFWs called the No to Text Tax! This online campaign in Facebook was led by Susan Ople, president of the Ople Policy Center; Jun Aguilar, a representative from the Filipino Migrant Workers’ Group; and Lito Soriano of LBS e-Recruitment Solutions. The campaign has garnered more than a thousand supporters just 3 days after its creation.

Right after the news came out, TxtPower led an SMS revolt to force the government to abandon its plans to impose a tax on text messages. They called on all Filipino texters to send the text message, NO TO TEXT TAX! directly to Sec. Peter Favila’s mobile phone number at 09178176110. In less than a day, Malacanang, through Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, said that it will not pursue a new tax on text messaging.

After stopping their unlimited texting service called UNLITXT, TXTPower filed a letter-complaint to NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) via email last December 18 to bring back UNLITXT. Surpisingly yesterday, Globe brought back UNLITXT. But this time, they offered only UNLITXT20. No more UNLITXT40 and UNLITXT80. That is according to 2977 text advisory:

Globe Advisory: Ang Globe Unlitxt All Day 20 ay available na! Enjoy 1 day unlimited texting for only P20. Just text UNLITXT20 to 2870 to register. Til 1/20/08. No free advisory? Reply STOP

A friend told me just this morning that Globe’s UNLITXT services has ended. So I went to TxtPower‘s website and found out that it is true. According to the website:

For the second time this year, Globe Telecom stopped its unlimited texting service without any public announcement.

At a time when we expect a deluge of Christmas greetings through text, subscribers are now forced to avail of a so-called Sulitxt15 service that gives 100 text messages for P15.

For those who don’t know what promos we are talking about, read below:

UNLITXT20 Php 20 – unlimited texting for 1 day
UNLITXT40 Php 40 – unlimited texting for 2 days
UNLITXT80 Php 80 – unlimited texting for 4 days
SULITXT15 Php 15 – allows sending of 100 Globe-to-Globe text messages.

TxtPower is planning to send a letter-complaint to NTC this week to find out why it allowed Globe to stop the service without informing its subscribers.