Lawmaker tells DICT to reconsider ‘premature’ SIM registration deadline

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 14) — A lawmaker on Saturday urged the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) to reconsider the deadline it had set for the registration of all SIM cards in the country.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda described the April 29 deadline as premature, “since we don’t know how quickly most Filipinos will be able to register.”

“Registration, as per the law, should really end by June 27, 2023. And that’s still extendible,” he added.

The chairman of the House ways and means committee pointed out that Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Registration Act states that the registration period – which began Dec. 27 last year – is 180 days.

READ: All mobile SIMs must be registered beginning Dec. 27

Under the law’s implementing rules and regulations, the 180-day period can also still be extended by 120 days.

Salceda said the DICT’s decision to move the deadline to April 29 – or just 120 days since the registration period began – was “a unilateral decision that the DICT is not within its bounds to make.”

“Absent any effort to make the registration more inclusive and accessible, moving the deadline earlier is not the right way to go,” he added. “It’s highly unusual to make that decision. Whatever the merits, let’s just stick to what the law says.”

Salceda also explained that not all subscribers may be able to meet the deadline.

“Remember that the registration is mostly online, and you have some 3 million Filipino mobile users who are not using smartphones. So, let’s be fair to them,” he said. “Another 1.3 million young users of smartphones do not have any reliable access to mobile data. And if you deactivate their SIM, you would affect their studies.”

A total of 18,531,223 SIM cards have been registered as of Jan. 12, according to the National Telecommunications Commission.

The DICT earlier said it has no plans yet to extend the deadline due to the dwindling number of complaints about the registration process.

READ: DICT: No plans to extend SIM registration deadline as number of complaints drop