NTC-6 quells fears over SIM card registration

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)-Region 6 allayed fears over the required registration of phone subscriber information modules or SIM cards under Republic Act No. 11934 (SIM Card Registration Act)

Chief among the concerns on the new law is the deactivation of unregistered mobile numbers.

But the NTC said it would take time before RA 11934 takes effect, thus the law will provide ample time for the registration of mobile numbers.

NTC-6 legal officer Deo Virgil Tan told Aksyon Radyo Iloilo that the law will take effect 15 days after it is published in the Official Gazette and in a newspaper of general circulation to be effective, as mandated by Article 2 of Republic Act No. 386 (Civil Code of the Philippines).

Tan explained that after its effectivity, the National Telecommunications Commission and its parent agency, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, would still craft its Implementing Rules and Regulations.

But despite the lack of the IRR, he said that the public must register their prepaid Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card within 180 days or around 6 months, otherwise risk being deactivated by the telecommunications companies.

“We need to detail within the Implementing Rules and Regulations as to the matters of what the people need to do. If they cannot register it in the given time, once [Rep. Act No. 11934] is effective, unregistered SIMs will be deactivated by the [telecommunications companies],” Tan explained in a radio interview.

He said that telecommunications companies (Globe, Smart, DITO, etc.) will also meet with NTC regarding the IRR of the law, particularly in the procedures that subscribers must follow, considering that the agency also estimates more than a million prepaid SIM cards that must be registered.

He also cited the possibility that the registration may be done online to relieve the possible time constraints of the process.

As to the current problem of scam texts, Tan said they hope the IRR may also help investigators identify perpetrators in crimes involving prepaid mobile numbers.

“The problem when [Rep. Act No. 11934] wasn’t existent yet was that we couldn’t identify perpetrators in the crimes. Investigators would have a hard time identifying [them]. Now we can identify the numbers used in crimes,” he said.

Republic Act No. 11934 was signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, October 10, the first law signed under the new administration.

An earlier version of the law was passed by the 18^th Congress but was vetoed by then-President Rodrigo Duterte, citing the proposed registration of social media accounts as contrary to constitutional and statutory laws on privacy.