City moves against ‘hot cellphones’
BACOLOD CITY — Sangguniang Panlungsod Member Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, Chair of the Committee on Energy and Communication, passed a resolution urging all stores engaged in the buying and selling of second-hand mobile or cellular phones in the city of Bacolod to ensure that they are buying from the real owners of cellphone units.
She said that in buying second-hand cellular phones the buyer should require proof of ownership for the unit/s being sold or otherwise record the name, address and contact details of the owner-seller.
Batapa-Sigue cited that almost 70 percent or 60 million Filipinos possess mobile or cellular phones and thus, it follows that big portion of the population of the City of Bacolod, which is a highly urbanized city, including its visitors and transient ones own or possess a mobile or cellular phone.
“For the past years, mobile and cellular phones had been frequent target of theft and robbery,” Batapa-Sigue lamented. She said that in order to discourage the theft and robbery of mobile or cellular phones, which are often sold or pawned by the offenders, stores buying second-hand units are strongly encouraged to determine whether the said unit is stolen or is a “hot item” before buying the same.