SEN. Grace Poe pressed the public “to give the SIM Registration one final push as the deadline to register approaches,” even as two of her colleagues rejected calls to extend the deadline, saying it was never expected that a 100-percent SIM registration would be achieved anyway.
“Let us spread the word that all must enlist their SIM for their protection and peace of mind,” Poe said.
The senator suggested that the Marcos government and telcos “go all out to encourage our countrymen to register.”
This, she stressed, “should be matched with a fortified infrastructure to handle the gush of transactions from those who will sign up their SIM.”
Sen. Poe added: “We reiterate that systems are in place to secure our information and protect our data. Sa ating SIM number wala dapat good bye, meron lang forever.”
In spearheading moves to enact the SIM registration law, she recalled lawmakers acknowledged its need, in a frantic bid to stem the surge of cyber crimes and fraud, mostly perpetrated through cellular phones.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) last week shot down calls to extend the deadline—appeals that arose from reports that less than half of the known number of subscribers have registered their SIMs or face deactivation.
In contrast to the DICT stance, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), however, appealed for an extension, saying most of those who might be disenfranchised by the deactivation are MSMEs who are only now starting to rely on mobile phones to do business, referring to micro, small and mdedium enterprises.
Secretary Alfredo Pascual said deactivation would seriously disrupt small business, preventing them from doing online transactions, at a time when the government itself has been encouraging digitalization across all sectors.
Two senators—Minority Leader Koko Pimentel and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian—are, however, not in favor of extending beyond April 26.
According to Pimentel, the goal of mandatory registration is to determine how many of the SIMs are not being used seriously and regularly, and for illegal purposes.
If only 44 percent of the subscribers felt the urgent need to register their SIM cards, then, he said, authorities should just accept this.
Even Gatchalian, one of those who supported Poe in advocating the mandatory SIM registration law, sees no need to extend the deadline.
A 100-percent SIM registration is not realistically attainable anyway, he said.
There are 110 million prepaid SIMs in use, but Gatchalian noted that the national population is 109 million, which includes infants and children.
This means, he said, that there are people who use more than one SIM.
It is also but natural that the final number of users registering their SIMs would be lower than 110 million because many people have stopped using multiple prepaid SIM cards, he added.