Pimentel wants hearing on text scams, SIM registration law ‘loopholes’

MANILA, Philippines — The apparent reemergence of fraudulent text messages victimizing the public has sparked calls to review potential “loopholes” in the SIM card Registration Law.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III floated the possibility that new technologies are being used to proliferate text scams despite the mandated registration of all SIM cards in the country.

“Sana hindi ito nangyayari, pero sabi niyo marami ang nabibiktima, so we have to review kung ano ba ang butas. Tingin ko technology na ang ginagamit eh, technology na ang ginagamit para ma circumvent po ang batas natin,” said Pimentel.

(I hope this doesn’t happen, but you said many people are being victimized so we have to review what the loophole is. I think technology is being used. Technology is being used to circumvent our law.)

Pimentel pointed out that these alleged scammers are “not afraid” to swindle others because they are certain that when the paper trail is opened, they know that they are “still anonymous.”

While he noted that “no laws are perfect,” Pimentel still maintained the need to scrutinize these potential loopholes in a thorough hearing.

“We need to have a hearing so that we will know kung number one, may namiss ba kami na existing na noong time na isinulat ‘yung batas. [Pangalawa,] may kakulangan [ba] — may words ba kami roon na hindi klaro na ginamit? Then number three, may bago bang technology na kailangan nating isama na hindi natin alam noong isinusulat ‘yung batas?,” he explained.

(We need to have a hearing to know if, number one, we missed something that already existed when the law was written. Second, is there anything lacking — did we use words that were not clear? Then number three, is there any new technology we need to incorporate that we didn’t know about when the law was written?)

READ: SIM card registration law signed amid privacy concerns

Republic Act No. 11934, otherwise known as the SIM Card Registration Act, was the very first law signed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

The law specifically seeks to curb electronic communication-aided crimes like mobile phishing and text spam.