MANILA, Philippines — Presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Saturday said he “may have to agree” with President Rodrigo Duterte’s veto of the proposed SIM Card Registration Act, noting that mandating social media account registration may be against the “one subject one title” rule in legislation.
“I may have to agree with the presidential veto,” Lacson said in a statement.
The proposed SIM Card Registration Act seeks to mandate the registration of all SIM cards and social media accounts in the country and is seen to curb fraud and other crimes aided by SIM cards.
Senator Panfilo Lacson (Photo from Lacson-Sotto media bureau)
It also includes a provision against online trolls by requiring social media account providers to mandate real name and phone number upon creating an account.
Acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said Duterte noted that the inclusion of social media providers in the registration requirement was not part of the original version of the bill and “needs a more thorough study.”
Lacson pointed out that mandating social media registration “could be violative of the ‘one subject one title rule’ as defined under the 1987 Constitution, not to mention the absence of safeguards or guidelines in the said provision not even covered by the title of the measure itself.”
The “one subject one title” rule is enshrined in Section 26 (1), Article VI of the Constitution, which reads that “every bill passed by the Congress shall embrace only one subject which shall be expressed in the title thereof.”
“That being said, my version of the bill simply calls for the mandatory registration of all the Subscriber Identity Module cards with the service providers as being practiced in other jurisdictions,” said Lacson.
In response, Lacson said; “I admit that I and my legislative staff overlooked it. Normally, as in the other measures being deliberated and amended on the floor, I would rise to question it upon consultation with my staff.”
Asked by another netizen why the Senate approved the insertion of the provision for social media account registration, Lacson said: “That’s one weakness I suppose of lawmaking, even in other jurisdictions.”