THE 90-day extension for SIM registration will give implementors and SIM subscribers time to address problem of sourcing required identification and other issues, a leader of the House of Representatives said Wednesday, a day after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. approved the recommendation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and telecommunications companies to extend the deadline beyond April 26.
“I requested and suggested only 60 days extension but the President did better by pushing the deadline back by 90 days,” said Party-list Rep. Elizaldy S. Co of AKO BICOL Party-list and chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.
“The 90 days leeway should not mean another excuse for SIM subscribers to wait until the last few days of the extension before they register. SIM subscribers must realize that their SIM phone numbers are means of identification and access to essential services as the country becomes more digital,” stressed Co, who is also president of the Party-list Coalition Foundation Inc.
The House of Representatives, led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, deems it a key concern to risk “disenfranchisement” of the poor and marginalized who have difficulty with SIM registration. “We do not want them to be shut out of telco service because of their inherent problems stemming from being poor and marginalized.”
Assistance must be given, he added, “especially to senior citizens who are unfamiliar with technical matters, persons with disability and persons with special needs who have inherent handicaps making them unable to follow online instructions, and solo parents and working parents who are hard-pressed to set aside hours to fall in line at service desks and kiosks.”
The extension gives the telcos more time to work with the government agencies that have verifiable databases backing the IDs and identification documents they have issued, said Co.
He reiterated his belief that “the major problem is the lack of acceptable identification,” and repeated his suggestion that the following be deemed acceptable documents because these can be verifiable:
1. Barangay Residence Certification with picture and barcode;
2. Vaccination Card with QR Code;
3. Filed latest BIR Income Tax Return;
4. School ID with picture and student number;
5. 4Ps ATM Card with card number;
6. DSWD Social Amelioration Card with barcode;
7. DOLE CAMP identification card; and
8. PhilSys National ID physical card or electronic card.
For these identification documents to be usable for SIM registration, the agencies and entities with custody of the databases should either give the telecom firms access to their databases or they should have a working arrangement for the verification of documents submitted, according to Co.
Image credits: Petr Kratochvil