Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday rejected claims that the provision on social media registration in the proposed SIM Card Registration bill that was vetoed by President Duterte was a “last minute insertion” that he made.
“The issue that it was a last minute (provision) inserted into the last hour is totally wrong and misleading,” Drilon said in an interview on CNN Philippines.
“We introduced this in the period of amendments. We had committee hearings wherein we had experts who testified. Retired senior justice Antonio Carpio, endorsed the passage of the bill,” said the minority leader.
“Officials of Facebook appeared and so many other experts appeared, and they all recognized the necessity of a bill that would require that those who are engaged in practice of a troll should not hide behind the anonymity of social media,” Drilon pointed out.
Earlier, House Deputy Speaker Wes Gatchalian claimed that the social media registration provision in the SIM Card Registration Act, which Duterte cited as the reason for vetoing the measure, was a “last minute insertion of Sen. Drilon.”
Gatchalian also claimed that the said provision “is totally not in line with the essence of this bill.”
According to the House lawmaker, the social media provision, while “equally important,” should have been studied further and filed as a separate bill.
His brother in the Senate, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, author and sponsor of the measure, has vowed to refile the bill in the next Congress should he win a fresh term in the upcoming May 2022 elections.
In a separate interview, Senate President Vicente Sotto III also denied Gatchalian’s allegation that the provision on social media registration was a last minute insertion.
“Hindi last minute insertion yun (That was not a last minute insertion). It was in the period of amendments in the Senate. Nung napunta sila sa bicam andun yun eh di sana tinanggal nila ayaw pala nila (It was part and tackled during the bicameral conference committee hearing; they should have removed that provision if they didn’t want it),” Sotto said.
“Mali yun, mali. Inaccurate yun (That’s wrong. That was inaccurate). It's not a last minute insertion. It was included in the period of amendments,” the Senate leader reiterated.