The deadline for SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) registration has been extended by 90 days, giving Filipinos who have not yet registered their SIMs more time to comply with Republic Act No. 11934 that requires all existing SIM users to register within 180 days from the effectivity of the law, a deadline which expired yesterday. The law also provides that the Department of Information and Communications Technology can extend the deadline by another 120 days.
The announcement of the extension came on the eve of the deadline, when less than 50 percent of the country’s 168 million total active SIMs have been registered, prompting calls to either extend the deadline or completely scrap the program.
The SIM Registration Act was enacted with the goal of curbing crimes committed through text messages, particularly spam and scam texts which were rampant when the proposal was being deliberated in Congress.
Government is also looking at “incentivizing” the public to register by starting to deactivate some SIM card services, such as social media access, as the new deadline approaches.
Whether the slow rate of SIM registration is because Filipinos just prefer to wait for the deadline to approach before taking action, or due to the lack of internet access and valid IDs which are needed in the registration process, or not enough simply not aware of it at all, government must now move with more urgency to encourage better compliance during the extension period for registration, especially as only 52 percent of the 168 million active SIM cards have been registered as of April 24.
Getting as many Filipinos possible to register their SIM cards before the new deadline expires is the priority now. After that, government has to put in place the necessary measures to ensure that all the personal information that was provided during the registration is always kept safe and confidential, so we don’t lose our trust in well-meaning efforts to improve the way we do things in this country.*
