President Rodrigo Duterte is being urged to veto the proposed SIM Card Registration law by an internet and information and communications technology (ICT) rights advocacy group.
According to Democracy.Net.PH, a veto petition has already been sent to the President’s Office.
Congress adopted the measure on February 2, requiring the registration of mobile phone subscriber identity module cards, or SIMs.
Aside from the SIM card registration requirement, the law also stipulates that when users create accounts on social media platforms, they must disclose their true identity and phone number.
Democracy.Net.Ph said the bill’s “provisions offer no real solution to these problems and only limit our right to privacy and expose us to risk by consolidating personally identifiable information on a centralized server.”
The group said the SIM Card Registration bill robs users of the “additional security that anonymity gives us, especially for celebrities, public figures, influencers, activists, human rights defenders, victims of domestic abuse and violence against women and children.”
Individuals who want to separate their personal lives from their professional lives will also be at risk if the bill passes, according to the group.
ICT groups want Duterte to veto SIM Card Registration bill
SIM card registration has also been “proved” ineffective and inefficient in other nations that have implemented it, according to Democracy.Net.Ph.
Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate delegation to the bicameral conference committee, said lawmakers utilized the House version as a working draft for the proposed SIM Card Registration Act’s final version but incorporated senatorial revisions.
The clause requiring all public telecommunications organizations (PTEs) to demand SIM card registration as a prerequisite to their sale and activation is one of the measures they decided to include in the proposed measure.
Poe stated that all existing SIM card subscribers with active services must register within 180 days of the new law taking effect.
“The measure establishes another layer of security protection for Filipinos, which will hopefully deter criminals from perpetrating their wicked plans. It is high time that we beef up our own infrastructures to address these threats to security,” Poe said.
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