Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte on Saturday backed the plan of Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to let both prepaid and postpaid subscribers register their respective Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards online to avoid people from flocking to the chosen PTE sites for face-to-face registration of their cell phone numbers.
Villafuerte, co-author of Republic Act (RA) 11394 enacted byPresident Marcos last Oct. 1, also expressed optimism that the DICT, in collaboration with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) will soon come up with the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) and of the new requiring the registration of possibly as many as 150 million cellular numbers in the country.
“Although we commend the DICT and NTC for wanting to fast track the crafting of the IRR for RA 11394, we caution their officials against rushing headlong on the mandatory registration of SIMs without first ensuring that they have, in tandem with our PTEs, future-proofed their would-be nationwide system of collecting, storing and managing biometric data and other personal information from as many as 150 million celfone numbers against data breaches and other security risks,” Villafuerte noted.
Villafuerte said the DICT and the NTC should work closely with the PTEs Globe Telecom, PLDT Smart and Dito Telecommunity in crafting the law’s IRR—and giving them the time they need to prepare for the mandatory registration and future-proofing of their systems, before requiring all cell phone users to register their SIMs within the prescribed period.
“The DICT and NTC should be 100 percent confident that by the time our cell phone owners are given a deadline to sign up, the would-be national database of SIM data is fool-proof against attacks from devious local and foreign groups that hide behind the cloak of anonymity in perpetrating crimes with the use of cell phones,” he said. “They must bear in mind that they will be dealing here with private and sensitive data of would-be registrants that are stored in possibly as many as 150 million SIMs.”
Villafuerte said the DICT and NTC should come up with an ultrasafe cybersecurity system that would likewise prevent PTEs or other groups from exploiting the would-be database for telemarketing purposes.
DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy earlier said the NTC wouldn’t take too long to complete the IRR as the Commission has already prepared a draft when the measure was still being tackled in the Congress.
“So I think they can easily come out with the IRR very soon. They need to continue to work with the telcos and other stakeholders,” Uy said at a televised briefing.
Uy said there are about 144 million to 150 million prepaid cards that have been issued to date, although about 40 million of these SIMs are possibly no longer used as they could have expired already or been discarded by their owners.
Villafuerte supported Uy’s view that the SIM registration process should preferably be done online to stop people from flocking to the chosen PTE sites for face-to-face registration of their cell phone numbers.
“Online registration by cell phone owners is a better option so as to avoid the specter of them getting stuck in long queues at the sign-up centers to be chosen by our PTEs,” the congressman said.
Once the law becomes effective, all existing postpaid and prepaid SIM users shall be required to register within 180 days, or about six months, to avoid deactivation of their celfone numbers.
Section 12 of RA 11934 directs the NTC to draw up, in coordination with the DICT along with other concerned agencies and groups, this law’s IRR within 60 days of its effectivity.
Such registration shall be made through a platform or website to be put up by the PTEs, which, in turn, are tasked to work with government agencies in establishing registration facilities even in faraway places with limited Internet access.
Cell phone users shall register their SIMs within 180 days from the law’s effectivity, although the DICT is authorized to extend the registration period for another 120 days, if needed.
