SJEE is the author of Senate Bill 802– SIM Registration Act
Mister President, distinguished colleagues, I am honored to co-sponsor Senate Bill No. 1310 under Committee Report No. 5 of the committees on Public Services; and Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship.
Lubos po ang aking kagalakan na naging mabilisan ang ating aksyon sa isyu ng naglipanang text scam na marami ang patuloy na naloloko at napeperwisyo. Pagkatapos na pagkatapos ng nakaraang public hearing natin sa Committee on Public Services noong Huwebes, ay nakatanggap na naman ako ng mapanlokong text. Ang mensahe – “Jinggoy Estrada, dear, gamitin ako, pag di ka kumita, re-refund ko ng doble…” kasunod ang scam link. Most likely, at this very moment ay marami ang patuloy na nakatatanggap na naman ng mga spam at scam text messages. Wala na pong natutuwa sa mga pangungulit at panlolokong ito. At matagal na rin po tayong binabagabag ng walang patumanggang tangkang panlolokong ito.
By estimates, let us compute it this way – we are 110 million Filipinos today. Sabihin na po natin na kalahati rito ang napadadalhan ng job text scam, promo-, raffle-, investment-, selling text scam or casino-bingo-betting text scams at iba pa.
Let us assume that half of our population ay may tig-i isang mobile number. Ako, I receive at least three text spam messages per day. Let us also assume that 55 million Filipinos that have one (1) mobile number also receive an average of three (3) spam text messages per day. Mister President, that is 165 million spam-scam text messages a day, that have already evaded the blocking capabilities of both Globe and Smart Telecommunications.
Computing this on a monthly basis, that gives us almost 4.95 billion spam text messages. Multiply by 12 months, that is a whopping 59.4 billion chances of being scammed thru these pestering text messages! And it only takes one inadvertent click out of these 59.4 billion text attacks in a year – for your mobile security to be compromised or for you to be scammed!
Mister President, this surpasses a mere breach of privacy and safeguards from intrusions! this is already a threat to our mobile and cyberspace integrity and safety that has been going on for two decades already!
Ang mga taong nasa likod ng mga numerong ito ay may aktibo at seryosong intensyon na makakuha ng pera sa tao sa pamamagitan ng panloloko sa text. Sila ay malayang nakabibili ng pre-paid SIM cards at nakakapag spam text at nakakapanloko sa araw-araw. At araw-araw rin ay may kawawang naloloko o hindi man direktang naloko – ay nakuhanan naman ng impormasyon na gagamitin upang sila ay mabiktima. panahon na po na matigil na ang ganitong gawain at pagbibigay oportunidad sa mga masasamang loob na ito.
That is why I highly commend the “amazing” efforts of my kinakapatid, the good senator Grace Poe, in ardently pushing for the passage of the SIM Card Registration Act. I laud her tenacity and perseverance in making the Philippines a text spam-scam-free society.
And I am fully on board with her on this urgent and important mission, just as with the rest of the authors and co-authors of the SIM Card Registration Act, in both houses of Congress.
As early as 2001, there has already been a call from our law enforcement agencies to institutionalize a mechanism to have the owners and/or users of these pre-paid SIM cards registered.
Regardless of whether there has been a data breach from our information controllers or information brokers; or there have been compromises on the security of our information from the mobile apps, surveys, contact-tracing forms, messaging apps, money service providers, or digital payment platforms that we have subscribed to; or whether there has been unauthorized data scraping; or whether said information has been illegally obtained thru the dark web; if we have a law mandating the registration of all SIM cards in the Philippines, with the requirement that they present legitimate government-issued identification cards, we have a way to identify who these perpetrators are, build a case against them and bring them before the courts of law. Sabihin na natin na mailusot nila ang fake IDs na ginamit nila sa pag-register ng kanilang SIM card, at least ay naroon naman ang kanilang mukha sa kanilang fake IDs. Ito ay mako-cross check na ng ating law enforcement agencies sa kanilang rogues’ galleries at facial recognition capability.
Hindi mapipigilan ang mga kawatan na makaisip ng mga panibagong modus kahit pa paulit-ulit ang mga panawagan at public service advisory ng mga telcos at mga ahensya ng gobyerno laban sa kanilang mapanlinlang na mga gawain.
These cybercriminals will always find ways and innovate just so they could steal from online dwellers and mobile users.
It is high time that we give SIM card registration legislation a chance to be enacted into law to save lives and prevent these swindlers from continuously victimizing unsuspecting individuals by sucking in their hard-earned money to deceptive offers from text scammers.
Ang mapigilan ang text scam na ito ay napakalaking tulong na po sa ating lahat. kasunod na po rito ang buting dulot ng pagsawata ng pang-ha-harass, blackmail, bank fraud, iba pang uri ng panloloko, iba pang insidente ng krimen at banta ng terorismo. This measure will not only help in crime investigation and crime solution efficiency of our law enforcement agencies. This is also a valuable crime prevention strategy. This will also pave the way for an improved cyber-defense capabilities, as well.
With that, Mister President, I end my remarks with this –
Wala ngang manloloko,
Kung walang magpapaloko;
Pero walang manloloko sa text,
na hindi mabibisto,
kung ang sim ay rehistrado.
Let this 19th Congress push again for the enactment of this SIM Card Registration Act and let it be done under our watch. Thank You, Mister President.