Dismayed by the Presidential veto on the consolidated sim card registration bill, consumer group Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) said the Philippines is now left farther behind its ASEAN peers.

“We are left behind farther in ASEAN by the veto. Even Timor Leste has a sim card registration,” said LKI President Victorio Mario Dimagiba as he expressed his disappointment.

On Black Saturday, April 16, Malacanang announced that the President has decided to veto the consolidated Senate Bill No. 2395/House Bill No. 5793, which seeks to mandate the registration of all SIM cards and social media accounts, with the purpose of deterring electronic communication-aided crimes.

In vetoing the bill, Malacanang explained that “...the inclusion of social media without proper guidelines or definitions... may give rise to a situation of dangerous state intrusion and surveillance threatening many constitutionally protected rights.“

But Dimagiba disagreed with Malacanang’s explanation on the veto, stressing “Let those who disagree challenge the law.”

Dimagiba even cited that the sim card registration is complementary with the existing special law — Data Privacy Act. “The sim card law or any special law as long as it observes transparency, legitimate purpose and proportionality; security of data is guaranteed; and citizens' rights are upheld-- should be complementary with the Data Privacy Act,” he pointed out.

This means, he said, “Both special laws can be implemented as complementary.” Thus, he allayed fears about privacy intrusion because that has been addressed by the Data Privacy Act.

“For all we know, Globe and Smart and Ditto will start sim card registration, but the presidential veto removed compliance,” he said.

“Frustrating because the 19th Congress is another home court,” he said.

The Department of Trade and Industry, which has been supporting sim card registration, supported the President’s decision to veto the proposed measure.

“We were only pushing for the SIM card registration. It would have been supported by the President,” said Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez.

Except the Philippines, ASEAN member states Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam have enacted laws requiring mandatory registration of prepaid sim card. Some require biometric or fingerprint identification in addition to the usual presentation of a legitimate identification cards.

Even then Commissioner Raymond Liboro of the National Privacy Commission presented arguments in support of the mandatory sim card registration.

Among the points raised by Liboro in the previous Congressional hearings during the deliberations of the proposed bills is the assurance of individuals’ privacy.

“Mandatory sim card registration will succeed under a framework of guaranteed privacy protection for mobile users under the Data Privacy Act. Presently, we have that framework in place to protect citizens privacy and ensure that data privacy rights of mobile users are upheld under the Data Privacy Act of 2012,” said Liboro.

A report in 2016 on Mandatory Registration of Prepaid sim card from the Groupe Specials Mobile Association (GSMA) also cited the benefits of sim card registration. The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, about 800 operators from more than 250 companies.

“Prepaid sim card registration is mandated in a number of countries which requires consumers to provide proof of identification in order to activate and use a mobile sim card. A number of countries adopted this policy as part of efforts to help mitigate security concerns and also to address criminal and anti social behavior,” GSMA said.