Office of Senator Mar Roxas blocks emails from supporters of ban asbestos bill

[dtuvera]

Emails to Senator Mar Roxas urging the passage of Senate Bill 741 or the bill banning asbestos have bounced back, supporters of the bill complained to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and the Associated Labor Unions (ALU). 

The bill banning the importation, manufacture, processing or distribution in commerce of asbestos-containing products has been pending with the Senate Committee on Trade and Commerce since August 29, 2007. Senator Roxas chairs the Committee. 

When asked for clarification, the Office of Senator Roxas said that “If subject headers are the same and frequency is high in a short span of time, web providers automatically block the same since they are considered as spam. Our office will acknowledge if we receive it.”

Email messages marked as “SPAM” effectively avoids the Inbox – the folder or place where incoming messages go. Spam messages are often not read by the recipient. This must be the case for those supporters whose emails bounced back because they did not receive acknowledgment from the office of the good senator. 

It could be more.

Considering that some 300 have participated since the email campaign started, it is unfortunate that the office of Senator Mar Roxas has not anticipated this situation and in effect prevented our supporters to express their support for our campaign. (The email campaign can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ban-asbestos. It explains the background of the campaign and why asbestos should be banned.)

Our legitimate members and supporters do not view this action positively. We are contacting our supporters so we will know if their emails were acknowledged or bounced back. 

Still, we urge the Senate to pass the bill banning asbestos.

Gerard R. Seno, Associated Labor Unions (ALU)

Rafael E. Mapalo, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)