Gov’t extends deadline for SIM listup laggards
LAST-MINUTE QUEUE Mobile phone users queue to register their SIM at a telecommunication company’s booth set up at Quezon City Hall on Tuesday, a day before the original deadline set by the government. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday approved the 90-day extension — or until July 25 — of the mandatory SIM (subscriber identity module) card registration, but the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) warned that unregistered mobile users might gradually lose access to certain services during the period to force them to comply right away.
Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy said in a Malacañang briefing that the decision came after the President’s sectoral meeting with him, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Press Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil and chief presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile.
“With 90 days, we believe that that would already give a lot of time to the public in order to fulfill the requirements of the law on the SIM card registration,” the DICT chief said, noting a “surge” in people listing up in the past few days as the original deadline drew near.
He pointed out that for several months, the average daily SIM registration was only at 100,000, but for the past two weeks “we were averaging more than a million SIM card registration per day.”
Last chance
“So that just goes to show that the issue is not really limited ID or anything. It’s just our bad habit of delaying to the last minute,” he said.
Uy added that barangay-issued IDs are now allowed for SIM card registration to address the problem cited by telco companies about Filipinos lacking valid government-issued proof of identification.
“This is the last chance. The law actually has our hands tied. We are only allowed to do this extension once and up to a certain period of time,” he added.
Uy said they would be focusing on registering mobile users in island provinces given the low compliance rate in those areas that lacked internet connectivity.
As of April 24, data from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) showed that 87.44 million, or 52.04 percent of the 168 million SIM cards that are active, had already been registered.
The bulk of these were accounted for by Smart Communications with 41.62 million, followed by Globe Telecom with 39.89 million and DITO Telecommunity with 5.93 million.
Uy said the government was expecting to register as many as 20 million active SIM cards during the extension period to hit its target of 100 million, with the rest described as “disposable,” including those being used for text scams.
Gradual service phaseout
He said the government was likewise exploring the possibility that it would “incentivize” the public in registering their SIM cards.
“During the 90-day period, we will observe the rate of registration, and after a certain period… we are seeing maybe 30 days or 60 days into registration, we will start deactivating some services on the SIM card,” he said.
“Let’s say after 60 days, you will lose access to your Facebook accounts or your TikTok accounts. But you still can use your phone, you can still call, you can still text, and then after a certain period, you will lose your outgoing calls. So in that way, you will really feel the effect of not registering,” Uy said. “So eventually, once we reach the 90-day period, you will lose completely all services to all your SIM cards.”
Uy said this would also show how “serious” the agency was in ensuring compliance with the mandatory listup.
But the gradual deactivation would be difficult to implement due to time constraints, according to Smart corporate communications group head Cathy Yang.
Uy warned that during the extension period, spam and scam messages would again increase.
“Unfortunately with this announcement of a 90-day extension, we expect that text scams will be going to increase again because we have now given them a 90-day window to continue their nefarious activities,” he said.
Welcome move
Senators on Tuesday backed the decision to give mobile phone users more time to register their SIM cards.
However, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said this should be the first and last extension for the listup, which started in December last year.
Sen. Grace Poe echoed Pimentel’s reminder for telcos to make use of the deadline extension to encourage their subscribers to register.
“As most telcos have been enjoying vast profits from their services, they have the corresponding obligation and the necessary resources to track down their SIM users and to widen the opportunity for registration,” she added.
In the Lower House, lawmakers supported the extension but pushed for “proactive efforts” to reach out to those who have yet to register.
“We should also be proactive in reaching out to the communities who do not have access to the internet,” House appropriations panel chair Rep. Elizaldy Co said.
Co also slammed the scheme of some SIM card sellers taking advantage of vulnerable Filipinos.
For House Deputy Majority Leader Alfred de los Santos, one way of reaching more Filipinos was for telcos to increase their number of customer service representatives.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, meeting en banc on Tuesday in Baguio City, turned down a petition to temporarily restrain the SIM registration program and instead directed government regulators and telco firms to respond within 10 days to the petition of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines to declare the listup as unconstitutional, according to Supreme Court spokesperson Brian Hosaka.
