Poe refiles vetoed SIM Card Registration Bill

Senator Grace Poe on Wednesday filed the SIM Card Registration Bill in the 19th Congress, retaining the provision on social media registration—the clause that prompted then-President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the measure in April.

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri filed a similar bill, but he said his version removes the social media provision.

Poe said she is open to discussing with her colleagues if the provision can be incorporated anew in the bill, or as a subject of another legislation.

Under her bill, public telecommunications entities (PTE) shall require SIM card registration as a prerequisite to its sale and activation.

All social media account providers will also require users to declare their real names and phone numbers upon creation of account.

All existing SIM card subscribers will be required to register with their respective PTEs within 180 days from the measure's effectivity.

The registration can be extended up to 120 days upon a valid written request to the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

The measure will authorize the PTEs to automatically retire the SIM card numbers of those who failed to register it.

All registration forms must be accomplished electronically and kept in a centralized database of the PTE which shall be mandated to secure and protect it.

The bill prohibits any disclosure of information obtained in the registration process except in compliance with any law obligating it in accordance with the Data Privacy Act, upon court order or with the written consent of the subscriber.

The PTEs that will breach confidentiality will face the following penalties: first offense, a fine not exceeding P300,000; second offense, not more than P500,000; third and subsequent offense, a fine not exceeding P1 million for every offense.

The proposed law also penalizes those who are behind any unauthorized sale of registered SIM cards. Violators may face imprisonment of no less than six years and.pr a fine of P200,000.

In refiling the bill, Poe highlighted a "lax system," citing the Department of Information and Communication Technology's data that 6,840 out of 32,915 respondents across the country have been victimized by text scams from unregistered mobile numbers.

She also said that unregistered SIM cards and social media accounts can also be used to facilitate other and more heinous crimes such as terrorism, cyber bank heists, proliferation of unsolicited, indecent or obscene messages, and the dissemination of a massive disinformation campaign which could cause chaos and disorder among the the public.

"That these crimes are flourishing under the current system only proves that the system is flawed and needs to be changed," Poe said in her explanatory note.

"I file this bill in hopes that we would be able to eradicate mobile phone, internet or electronic communication-aided criminal activities. This has been a long time coming but I hope that the passage of this bill will result in a safer and more secured mobile-use and cyberspace here in our country," she added.

The lawmaker assured the public that the consumers' privacy will continue to be given high regard.

She said the measure makes clear that any doubt in the interpretation of any of its provisions and its implementing rules and regulations shall be construed in a manner that accords the highest respect for privacy, and liberally interpreted in a manner mindful of the rights and interests of SIM card subscribers. — BM, GMA News