Duterte scolds telcos for lousy service amid online classes

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night scolded the country's telecommunications companies for their lousy service as students go through online classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Duterte made the remark with public schools scheduled to start classes on Oct. 5.

"I don’t know how to go about this but I just appeal to yung mga telecommunications, can you do a better job? Is there life after this kind of service that you are delivering to the public?" Duterte said.

"Kasi kung kaya ko lang na mag-isang salita lang nandiyan na kaagad, matagal na itong natapos itong problema ng Pilipinas," he added. 

In his State of the Nation Address in July, Duterte ordered telco companies to improve their services by December. 

Globe Telecom earlier lamented that bureaucratic processes have been delaying the establishment of new telecommunications towers for years. 

“You know sometimes the operations or expansion of telcos are hindered by itong so many requirements from the barangays,” Duterte acknowledged.

“One thing is in the coming days we have to talk about this seriously. This has been bugging the country for so long. It pisses me off to no end really discussing these telcos because ang karamihan walang service dito, walang service doon,” he added.

Malacañang previously ordered local governments to act on telco permits within three days. -NB/LDF, GMA News