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Ilonggos weigh in on SIM registration ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MERIANNE GRACE EREÑETA
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ILOILO City – Who’s afraid of the proposed registration of prepaid Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards?
Ilonggos randomly interviewed by this paper were supportive of the proposal but others expressed concern over what such would do to their privacy.
Antiqueña senator Loren Legarda pressed for the passage of a bill seeking for mandatory registration of all prepaid SIM cards to avoid unregistered numbers being utilized for malicious or any unlawful acts.
“If we can make postpaid mobile subscribers submit identification, why can’t we do the same for prepaid mobile phone users? With SIM cards registered, criminals and perpetrators who exploit the anonymity provided by prepaid SIM can be identified and tracked down easily,” Legarda said.
Under her Senate Bill No. 1160, the direct sellers of SIM cards shall require buyers to present valid identification with photo to ascertain the latter’s identity.
Sen. Vicente Sotto III also filed a bill with a similar objective, the SIM Card Registration Act of 2016.
“I am in favor of these bills,” said 21-year-old Shelah Torotoro who believed the proposal would help the government trace criminals.
Torotoro told Panay News she had received numerous spurious text messages from what she believed were scammers.
Their phone numbers were unfamiliar to her, she said.
“I ignored them all. But I pity those who fell victim to these text scams. They couldn’t hold anyone accountable because the scammers could not be traced,” said Torotoro.
The registration of prepaid SIM cards will help minimize the opportunity for certain parties to execute terror threats, prank calls and text scams which are becoming more prevalent because of the ease and convenience of purchasing a prepaid or “Pay As You Go” SIM card without having to present identification, said Legarda.
Under the bill, end users are also required to accomplish and sign a control-numbered registration form used by the respective public telecommunications entity (PTE) of the SIM card being purchased.
PTEs will collect accomplished registration forms from direct sellers and submit a copy to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). PTEs are instructed to submit an updated SIM card registration of their subscribers to NTC every six months.
If the end user fails to comply with the requirements, they will be refused the sale of a SIM card by the direct seller.
Just like Torotoro, community empowerment facilitator of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s KALAHI-CIDSS National Community-Driven Development Project, Carl Jacinto believed SIM card registration will minimize scams carried out through phones.
“Scammers and criminals use different numbers in their criminal activities,” said Jacinto told Panay News.
Under the bill, in case the person intending to purchase a SIM card is a minor, the parents or guardian will be required to give their express consent in writing, and submit the same with the registration form and valid identification cards with photo of both the minor and the parents or guardian.
The direct seller can also make further inquiries or require the submission of additional identification if necessary, and withhold the sale of the SIM card pending compliance with the additional requirements.
The 21-year-old Rona Jane Frondoza said she was supportive of the proposal.
“If the database from the SIM card registration can help the government trace cellphone-aided crimes such as in the case of the recent Davao bombing, why not?” Frondoza told Panay News.
Frondoza, president of Iloilo Host Premier Leo Club, said she felt sorry for Davao bombing victims – 15 died while 67 were injured.
“Protecting lives should come before the right to telecommunicate,” said Frondoza adding, “As long as the government can assure that the process of registration won’t eat up a significant amount of time.”
Under Legarda’s bill, in case of loss or any change in the information after the acquisition of the SIM card, the subscriber must notify the PTEs within 30 days from such loss or change.
The concerned PTE must notify the NTC of such loss or change in the information within 15 days from receipt of notification from the subscriber. All information in SIM card registration shall be treated as absolutely confidential.
Meanwhile, under Sotto’s bill, any information in the SIM card registration shall be treated absolutely confidential.
“Mobile phone service providers shall be required to provide information contained in the SIM card registration only upon the order of a competent court, upon finding of probable cause that a particular number is or has been used in the commission of a crime or that it was utilized as a means to commit an unlawful act,” part of the Sotto bill stated.
Jennifer Bolivar, a college graduate, expressed hope that the proposal would curb crimes.
But another interviewee told Panay News he would support the plan only “if they can make effective privacy guidelines.” He asked not to be identified, citing his own privacy.
A phone user’s privacy must never be compromised, he stressed.
The 23-year-old Jeffrey Padernal rejected outright Legarda’s and Sotto’s bills.
“It will help the government track the users. Ang bad effect is the privacy and security of the subscribers,” Padernal told Panay News.
Private school teacher Claud Aloro shared Padernal’s concern.
“In case abi madula ang phone mo or imo SIM tapos gamiton tana sang nakakita sa ilegal nga paagi, ang nagbakal tana ang salaun. Much better nga wala na lang registration,” Aloro told Panay News./PN
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