Good intentions, as we know by now, do not always translate to good laws.
The good intention behind Republic Act 11934, or the Subscriber Identity Module Registration Act, enacted in Oct. 2022—to prevent cybercrimes—appears to be a colossal failure.
That’s the rationale behind the proposal of Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers to amend RA 11934, which mandates the registration of both post and prepaid SIM cards.
The lawmaker believes local and foreign criminals have managed to skirt the law and continue scamming operations.
“The law was intended to curb cybercriminal activities, to address issues related to trolling, hate speech and online disinformation. But what we are seeing and witnessing today is that online scamming activities remain unabated,” Barbers pointed out.
He cited the recent raids by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission on POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operators) facilities in Bamban, Tarlac, and Porac, Pampanga, that yielded tens of thousands of unused SIM cards.
SIM cards have been used by criminals in various online scams in the Philippines.
These include phishing, automated teller machine skimming, identity theft, online shopping scams, lottery scams, crowdfunding scams, love or romance scams, advance fee fraud, fake websites, SIM swap scams, SMS phishing, blackmail, credit card scams, impersonation scams, online banking scams, catfishing, charity scams, computer hacking, investment scams, and grandparent scams, among others.
Barbers, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, noted some narcotics peddlers use postpaid SIM cards to hide their real identities and avoid detection so they could post and sell their “coded” illegal wares on various social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and YouTube.
There’s no limit to what criminal minds can come up with to make the unwary and the unsuspecting part with their hard-earned money, it seems, and authorities are having a hard time running after the cybercriminals and putting them in the only place where they belong: in jail.
While we welcome the development of new technology and digital media to make communication easier and allow us to expand the limits of the possible in various areas of endeavor, whether in the economic, social and political spheres, we must be constantly on guard against the use of information and communication technology and digital media for committing crimes.
The proposed amendment of the SIM Registration Act is a step in the right direction as it would correct the loopholes allowing the unscrupulous and the criminal-minded to commit various types of offenses punishable under our statutes.
