LGUs urged to go extra mile to ‘sign up’ 10M unregistered SIMs

FILE: A staff member of a telecommunications company (standing) helps a client in registering his subscriber identity module card at a stall at the Quezon City Hall on Tuesday (Jan. 24, 2023). Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Card Registration Act seeks to put an end to scams and gives subscribers until April 26 to register if they want to keep their numbers active. (PNA photo by Ben Briones)

MANILA – A lawmaker on Monday urged local government units (LGUs) to “go the extra mile” with public telecommunications entities (PTEs) in signing up as many as 10 million still-unregistered subscriber identity modules (SIMs) with only a month left before the July 25 deadline.

In a statement, Camarines Sur Representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte said the support of LGUs is crucial to helping the government achieve its original target of registering up to 110 million SIMs of legit owners by the end of the extended registration period.

Villafuerte said the focus of this remaining sign-up month should be on registering the still-unlisted SIMs of those with non-data cellular phones, along with those SIMs owned by persons with disabilities (PWDs) and elderly Filipinos.

He added telecommunication companies need the support of LGUs in increasing the number of registered users, particularly in underserved or faraway places with either weak Internet connectivity or no connection at all.

“LGU executives, especially those in remote or underserved areas, can best help PTEs do so by persuading their respective constituents to register, putting up or increasing the number of venues where people can sign up their SIMs online, and providing on-site list-up assistance in their respective localities during these four remaining registration weeks,” Villafuerte said.

He said LGUs can also help by expediting the issuance of identification cards (IDs) to their respective constituents who want to register but have no government IDs, which is one requisite for the sign-up, as so required by Republic Act 11934.

He cited the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) stating that 65 percent, or roughly two out of every three Filipinos are not connected to the internet, and the registration of SIM cards would prevent “disenfranchising” any of their legitimate owners from cyberspace.

“It’s good that the DICT exercised prudence in deciding to extend the registration deadline by three more months to give still-unregistered SIM holders more time to sign up, as a bigger registry turn-out would better provide our law enforcers with the necessary tools to crack down hard on nefarious groups that have used SIMs in their cybercrimes,” Villafuerte said.

He said a highly successful registration drive would give a tremendous boost to the government’s drive to crack down hard on cyber criminals, notably those committing cellular fraud like text scams and identity theft leading to unauthorized online payments and bank withdrawals.

“A highly successful registration of SIMs by July 25 is much desired, as such will make it easier for our authorities and/or PTEs to trace persons behind text scams—and hold them accountable for breach of privacy along with cellphone-based fraud and other punishable offenses they have been able to perpetrate by using unknown or unregistered cellphone numbers,” he said.

Villafuerte, however, recognized DICT’s achievement for reaching its “soft target” of 100 million with a month left before the deadline.

Signed into law by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Oct. 10, 2022, RA 11934 originally set a three-month mandatory registration of SIMs from Dec. 27, 2022 to April 26, 2023.

However, the low turnout in certain places subsequently prompted the DICT to extend the registration deadline by another three months to July 25, as allowed by this law.