The Supreme Court (SC) has been asked to declare unconstitutional Republic Act No. 11934, otherwise known as the SIM Registration Act, on the ground that it violates the basic constitutional rights of SIM card users.
In a 59-page petition filed by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and several other individuals, the petitioners also sought the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order and/or a writ of preliminary injunction enjoining the implementation of the law pending the resolution of the petition.
The NUJP-led petitioners stressed that there is a need to immediately enjoin the implementation of the law as more than 106 million other unregistered Filipinos stand to be disenfranchised through automatic deactivation of their SIMs if they fail to comply with the April 26 deadline.
Aside from the NUJP, petitioners also included journalist Ronalyn Olea, Bayan Muna party-list Representative Eufemia Cullamat, and Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes, among others.
The petitioners named the respondents in the petition including the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the National Privacy Commission, DICT, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Department of Education.
They also named telecommunication companies such as Globe Telecom Inc., Smart Communications, Inc., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Dito Telecommunity Corporation, DIgitel Mobile Philippines Inc., Sun Cellular and Cherry Mobile Communications Inc.
The NTC meanwhile said it is still studying the possible extension of the SIM registration deadline on April 26.
The group called on the SC to declare the law unconstitutional for allegedly infringing on Article III Sections 1, 2,3, and 11 of the 1987 Constitution.
The petitioners also prodded the SC to order public telecommunication entities to cease and desist from using, storing, transferring, and
processing all information gathered into the SIM register and to destroy data already gathered.
The petitioners argued that RA 11934 is unconstitutional as it violates their right to freedom of speech by imposing a system of prior restraint; right against unreasonable searches and seizures and to privacy of communication by intruding into the petitioners’ reasonable expectation of privacy and circumventing the requirement of a judicial warrant; and substantive due process by intruding into the life, liberty, and property of petitioners.
They noted that as of April 7, 2023, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) estimates that 168, 977, 773 SIM
cards are currently in use in the country.
Of that figure, only about 62,170,268 or 36.79 percent have so far registered under the SIM Registration Act.
Thus, 63.21 percent or 106,807,505 SIM cards will be deactivated and their users will be permanently silenced when the April 26 deadline comes, the petitioners warned.
According to the petitioners, the deactivation of these SIM cards will affect the government’s dissemination of public service announcements and ordinary citizens will not be able to capture, share, and discuss the misbehavior of their public servants, which is vital in a democratic country.
Besides, unregistered Filipinos will be deprived of essential online services such as digital banking, online shopping, and transportation to courier services, they said.
The petitioners also argued that they have a reasonable expectation of privacy over their SIM cards, such as who to have or to pass on the information it contains.
The petitioners also argued that the law violates free access to courts by limiting access to justice to only registered devices.
