When the deadline for the registration of SIM cards fell due on April 26, only 41.3 percent of a total of 168,977,773 cards nationwide were registered. This prompted the Department of Information and Communication Technology to extend the deadline by another 90 days.
Prior to the registration, a group questioned the constitutionality of the SIM Card Registration Act (RA 11934) before the Supreme Court and asked for a temporary restraining order and/or injunction. But the SC, on the eve of the April 26, deadline junked the petition and ordered the appropriate government agencies and telco companies to comment within 10 days.
The petition assailed the law for supposedly violating the public’s right to free speech, privacy, and due process because RA 11934 lacks the security and means to protect the information that the public will provide when registering their SIM cards.
The oppositionists said the purpose of the law is to deter illegal acts committed through short messaging/message service or SMS technology and to help law enforcers track alleged criminals.
With what happened to the over 1 million data stored in the Philippine National Police that were stolen, how could the people trust the security of their data with the telcos and government regulators—when PNP supposedly the guardians of our lives, property and resources—failed on this.
What led to the law was the growing complaints against unnecessary marketing and promo messages that subscribers were receiving, making them wary about how their data is being loosely shared by telcos. So, the law on SIM Card registration—which is expected to cut, if not totally remove, such unwanted promos and marketing messages—was passed by both chambers, with all its defects.
The deadline extension is, for many, justified because of factors like: areas where signals are weak, some SIM cardholders find it hard to follow the steps for registration; or the difficulty of requirements to register. Hurdles for prepaid cards like photo of government-issued IDs and actual/current photo of cardholders that often do not match because of time differences (perhaps the government-issued ID is 10 or more years old so the current facial photo of the cardholder would not match with that of the ID. Some had difficulty going past the suffix (Jr., III, IV, V etc.) and the registration process would not proceed.
It can't be denied that there have been many defective laws passed and the SIM Card Registration is one of them. Legislators must be reminded they are not in a race to pass laws.