SIM card registration bill passage pushed vs text scams

MANILA, Philippines — Members of the incoming 19th Congress should immediately pass the SIM Card Registration Bill to effectively prevent text scams, Sen. Grace Poe said yesterday.

“Unless a law is passed, the bombardment of unwanted text messages will persist. We need more than band-aid solutions to these unrelenting scams,” Poe said in a radio interview.

The senator said she would refile her original bill that would make the registration of all SIM cards a prerequisite to their sale.

“The SIM Card Registration Bill will pave the way for us to counter the rampant text scams. The problem is scammers are now proliferating, offering jobs that when you give information, you are also being fleeced,” she said in Filipino.

Poe warned that it is difficult to catch the scammers as they use prepaid cards that are unregistered.

The outgoing 18th Congress had passed the bill but President Duterte vetoed it, citing possible unconstitutional provisions with the inclusion of social media registration.

Malacañang earlier said such provisions may “give rise to a situation of dangerous state intrusion and surveillance, threatening many constitutionally protected rights.”

Under Poe’s bill in the last Congress, all existing prepaid SIM card subscribers with active services should register within 180 days from the effectivity of the proposed law.

Telecommunication companies will be authorized to deactivate SIM card numbers that have not been registered within the prescribed period.

Poe said without the protection provided by the measure, the public becomes vulnerable to fraudulent transactions that place their sensitive data such as bank accounts, passwords, profiles, among other information, at risk.

Despite efforts by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and telecommunications companies to warn the public against text scams and make them block or report the messages, the senator bewailed that text scams have remained rampant.

She said the NTC does not seem able to handle the numerous complaints. While telcos may be able to block the SIM cards, the scammers will simply buy new ones.

Poe said she intends to talk with her fellow senators in the incoming 19th Congress to rally support for the measure to help expedite deliberations.

The senator said they would discuss if the provision on social media registration can be incorporated anew in the bill or can be a subject of a separate legislation.