(MALAYA) VOTING 20-0-0, the Senate yesterday approved on third and final reading the mandatory registration of SIM cards, a measure passed by both houses of Congress in the 18th Congress but was vetoed by former President Duterte due to the provision on the registration of social media accounts.
Last September 5, the House of Representatives approved on third reading a similar consolidated version of the measure.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri named Sen. Grace Poe as the Senate panel chairman on the bicameral conference committee to tackle the disagreeing provisions of the measure, with Senators Nancy Binay, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III as members.
Poe, principal author of the measure, thanked her colleagues for their support in passing “the first bill passed by the 19th Congress.”
The measure was co-authored by Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Ronald Bato dela Rosa, Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, Joel Villanueva, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Imee Marcos, and Cynthia Villar.
Poe said passage of Senate Bill No. 1310 or the “SIM Card Registration Act” will prevent crimes from being committed through the use of SIM cards since its owners will have to register for identification.
“We now have in our hands the means to unmask criminals who have been hiding for so long under the protection of anonymity and to bring them to justice,” Poe said.
The measure seeks to regulate the registration and use of SIM cards by mandating subscribers to have them registered with the telcos before they are activated. Existing subscribers must register their SIM cards within a specific period, otherwise their SIMs will be deactivated.
Subscribers will have to present a valid government ID for them to register their SIM cards. Registration includes the submission of full name, date of birth, and address.
The measure also prohibits “spoofing” or the act of transmitting, misleading or inaccurate information about the source of the phone call or text message to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value.
The measure also seeks to penalize the sale of stolen SIM cards.
Telcos would be tapped to keep the subscribers’ information in a database, while the Department of Information and Communications Technology will conduct a yearly audit of the telcos’ compliance with information security standards.
Submitted information will be kept confidential but will be disclosed once competent authorities subpoena them in relation to an investigation of a crime or unlawful use of the SIM card.
“Finally, we can now do something aside from just ignoring, deleting, or blocking the numbers with fraudulent or spam messages,” Poe added. -Raymond Africa