House OKs SIM card registration bill

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill requiring the registration of all postpaid and prepaid mobile phone subscriber identify module (SIM) cards.

The Senate leadership meanwhile vowed to speed up action on the Senate’s version of the measure.

Authors of the bill said the registration requirement aims to deter the commission of illegal activities using unregistered mobile phone cards.

At present, only postpaid subscribers are required to fill out application or registration forms. They comprise only a small fraction of the total number of customers of mobile phone service providers. The bulk is composed of purchasers of prepaid cards.

Telecommunications officials have told congressmen that there are more than 100 million mobile phone cards in circulation, though there are only an estimated 65 million to 70 million subscribers.

This means that many subscribers hold multiple SIM cards.

Under the approved Bill 7233, all mobile phone subscribers, whether postpaid or prepaid, would be required to fill out registration forms to be submitted to their service providers, who would in turn transmit these to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

In the case of new customers, the seller-store would make sure that buyers would comply with the requirement. The telecommunications company (telco) that owns the card must accredit the seller-store, which would submit the registration forms to the telco.

The form should include the buyer’s important personal information. The purchaser would be asked to present government-issued identification cards. Failure to provide personal information or ID cards would be a ground on the part of a store to refuse to sell a mobile phone card.

The DICT would be mandated to keep all information contained in the registration documents strictly confidential. However, it could release such information upon orders of a court.

Bill 7233 provides a schedule of fines for violators, ranging from P300,000 to P1 million.

The DICT and the National Telecommunications Commission would issue implementing rules and regulations.

There is another mobile phone-related bill pending in the House: one that seeks the assignment of a permanent number to each subscriber.

At the Senate, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said they are optimistic their colleagues will decide favorably on the proposed measure, which they co-authored. 

The measure is still pending with the committees of public services and of trade.

“The House has done its part. Now it’s up to the Senate to pass the bill and get it on the President’s desk for signature,” Gatchalian said.

As early as 2016, seven versions of the bill had already been filed by Sens. Joseph Victor Ejercito, Richard Gordon, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Manny Pacquiao, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

“I hope we can pass this law in time for the May 2019 elections. It will help us clamp down on voter intimidation and violence that is facilitated through the widespread availability of unregistered prepaid SIM cards,” the senator said.

Gatchalian assured the public that cellular information would still be kept private in accordance with the citizens’ constitutional right to privacy and applicable laws.