EDITORIAL - Register your SIM

As of March 29, only 32.01 percent – a total of 54,090,725 – of the 168,977,773 Subscriber Identity Modules or SIM cards nationwide had been registered, according to the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

The DICT is urging the public to register SIM cards before these are deactivated by the end of this month. Under Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Card Registration Act, the April 26 deadline can be extended by up to 120 days, but the government has been cool to the idea.

RA 11934 was passed amid the proliferation of digital fraud as well as the use of social media for trolling, bullying, disinformation and the spread of fake news. SIM card registration aimed to eliminate the anonymity that engendered these activities.

It’s not farfetched to believe that many of the SIM cards that remain unregistered, with less than a month to go before the deadline, are those used for such illegal and offensive activities. Those who don’t engage in such activities typically rushed to register their SIMs as soon as possible, to ensure that they would not endure the hassle of losing the use of their mobile phones.

The major public telecommunications entities – Smart Communications Inc., Globe Telecom Inc. and DITO Telecommunity Corp. – have made it easy to register SIMs especially for postpaid subscribers. There has been no lack of public reminders from various sources about the importance of SIM card registration and the April 26 deadline.

Various quarters have reported a drop in fraudulent digital activities since the SIM registration period started. Mobile phone owners have been targeted for financial fraud, e-commerce scams, identity theft, phishing, smishing and vishing. Anonymity on digital platforms has facilitated political smear campaigns. The SIM card registration measure enjoyed wide support in the previous 18th Congress, but the first version was vetoed by then president Rodrigo Duterte because it included mandatory registration of even social media accounts.

Unless the owner no longer has use for the SIM card, there is no excuse to avoid registration. The DICT has set up a hotline, 1326, for those with complaints or concerns about SIM card registration. For more information, the public may visit the DICT website, or through 0947-714-7105 for Smart, 0966-976-5971 for Globe and 0991-481-4225 for DITO.