SWS: 60% of Filipinos in favor of SIM card registration law

At least 60% of Filipinos are in favor of the SIM Card Registration Law, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey has shown.

The SWS survey showed that 17% of the respondents disapproved while 23% of them were undecided.

The survey was conducted between September 29 to October 2 or a week before President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. signed the measure into law on October 10.

This resulted in a net approval of 44%.

The highest net approval was recorded in Balance Luzon at 47%, followed by Mindanao at 45%, Metro Manila at 43%, and Visayas at 34%.

The SIM Card Registration Law mandates public telecommunications entities (PTE) or direct sellers to require the end-user of a SIM card to present a valid photo ID to ascertain his or her identity.

The law also provided that a PTE or any direct seller would require the end-user to accomplish and sign a numbered registration form issued by the respective PTE of the SIM card purchased.

Crime fighting

Sixty-six percent of those polled believed SIM card registration would help fight crimes done through cell phones, while 25% were undecided. Only 10% disagreed that the law would prevent crimes.

These resulted in a net belief score of 56%.

Only 48% of Filipinos agreed that SIM card sellers could be trusted with the private information of the buyers which they will have access to under the SIM Card Registration law.

Thirty-three percent were undecided, while 20% disagreed. These gave a net agreement score of 28%.

The net agreement that SIM card sellers could be trusted to protect the private information of the buyers was strongest in Mindanao at 39%, followed by Balance Luzon at 33%.

The net agreement that SIM card sellers could be trusted to protect the private information of the buyers, however, only reached 17% in Visayas and eight percent in Metro Manila.

Marcos earlier assured the public that any information in the SIM registration would be treated as "absolutely confidential unless access to this information has been granted by the written consent of the subscriber."

The non-commissioned SWS poll was conducted using face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults aged 18 years old and above nationwide, with 300 respondents each in Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, and 600 in Balance Luzon.

The sampling error margins are ±2.5% for national percentages, ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, and ±4.0% for Balance Luzon.

The area estimates were weighted by the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2022 to obtain the national estimates. —NB, GMA Integrated News