Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 10) — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it is not planning to extend the deadline for SIM registration for now. DICT Spokesperson and Undersecretary Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo cited the lower number of complaints and continued information drives.
“We’re always willing to extend ito pong implementation period. Pero we’re doing our best first. Ito pong first 15 days natin is classified as a test period so I guess medyo mas mababa pa uptake. But we feel that masosolusyonan natin yan,” Lamentillo said in a media briefing Tuesday.
[Translation: We’re always willing to extend the implementation period. But we’re doing our best first. These first 15 days are classified as a test period so I suppose the uptake is a bit slow. But we feel we can solve this.]
The Inter-Agency Response Center (IARC) received a total of 1,263 complaints from its 24/7 hotline 1326 for SIM registration from December 27,2022 to date. Most of the callers’ concerns were related to the registration process and website malfunction.
“During the first day of December 27, there were 388 (calls). Nag-drop na siya up [it has dropped] to the present ng 14. From 28% may downtrend na tayo ng [there is a downtrend of] 1% as of 10 a.m. December 27 to January 10 pababa na nang pababa,” Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center Division Chief Norman Ancheta explained.
National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Officer-in-charge Ella Blanca Lopez says telcos continue to improve their system to avoid new problems in the future.
From Dec 27 up to January 9, at least 16,150,926 SIMs have been registered. Lamentillo says the government targets to register one million SIMs per day.
“The process has actually improved if we look at the statistics. We already have more than 16 million SIMs registered as of January 9, and the number of complaints have significantly dropped from an average of 95 queries or concerns during the first week, down to an average of 47 queries or concerns during the second week,” she said.
In a statement, Sen. Grace Poe urged telcos to ramp up their campaigns since only 9.56% of the 170 million users have registered their SIM cards. Poe, the author and sponsor of the SIM Registration Act, is worried that millions of users may sign up at the last minute.
“We are asking the telcos to keep sending messages or embark on an advertising campaign to continuously remind subscribers of the link to their official website or other channels of registration,” Poe said.
Authorities also warn the public against SIM registration virtual assistance to avoid cybercrimes and the misuse of their personal information. They encourage users to register on their own or seek help from authorized representatives of telcos.
“If ito pong online assistance is used to get personal information ng ating kababayan at yan po ay labag sa batas at pwede po kayong makulong at mabigyan ng multa,” Lamentillo said.
The DILG added that it is coordinating with the NTC, telcos and local government units to roll out registration sites in far-flung areas in the coming weeks.
