First and foremost, let me greet all my classmates which include my wife, in our celebration of Golden Jubilee (50th) as alumni of the College of Law, University of the Philippines,Law Class of April 22,1972.The veto of the proposed SimCard Registration Act was like a thief in the night. It happened while the Catholic community were in the midst of Lent towards Easter and of the 40 days Ramadanobservance. The news broke the eerie silence and solemnity of the religious events of the weekend. Most of the media reported the veto news as released by the State. I think in normal situations, there should have been an uproar against the veto.
Our consumer group issued a statement that we were dismayed and frustrated by the veto. It was plain and simply a good law. It almost lapsed into law without the President ‘s approval. The veto carried the zeal that the proposed law was a bad law.
The veto pushed back the Philippines in the Asean community as the only member country without a sim card registration law. Even Timor Leste, the newest member state in Asean has a sim card registration law. I was appalled to read that the Department of Trade and Industry supported the veto, despite our active support to the Asean commitment of a uniform and standardized policies in consumer welfare and protection. This is a component of our commitment in the economic integration of Asean. In other words, we shot our own feet.
I raised the question on theproposed Sim card law in a recent Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) lectureI attended in the University of the Philippines on Social Media Law. Ourlecturer, Professor Jenny Jean B.Domino replied that she studied privacy law conflicts in the provision on social media registration, but none on the sim card registration itself.Here were her comments which I lifted from the slide she used inthe MCLE lecture
- Vague, violates due process, principle of legality under Article 19, ICCPR
-no definition of social media providers (Spotify, viber, discord?)
-No definition of fake news, spreading digital disinformation, trolling, hate speech, yet these are crimes under Section 4.
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- Anonymity as a good:
-A form of gender expression for LGBTQ+ persons
-Shields victim of gender-basedviolence, gender based online harassment
-Shields human rights defenders and activists in repressive capacities
-Anonymity to children as an integral part of their evolving capacities
(Convention on the Rights of the Child) and shields them against abusive parents.
- Can facilitate enforcement of bad laws( e.g. Anti Terrorism Act)
- Can facilitate corporate and government surveillance
- If you have nothing to hide, this should not be a problem.
- Why do you draw the curtain or want your own room?
It is my opinion that the proposed Sim Card Registration law and the National Privacy Act complements each other to assure that Data privacyrights of consumers are maintained at all times. Both are special laws and the tasks of the implementing agencies of the State is to harmonize or synchronize its enforcement and implementation that both Consumer rights and Data rights are sustained, maintained and respected.
I disagreed with the veto. Those that disagree can challenge the law or portions of the law. We should observetransparency ,legitimate purposes and proportionally , that security of data are guaranteed ,and citizens rights are upheld. The veto was a simplistic decision.
For all that we don’t know the Telco’s are ready to implement sim card registration. But with the veto, who will comply? The framework of guaranteed privacy rights of mobile users isassured, in place and upheld under the Privacy Law.
What can be done to save the proposed law in the current 18th Congress. Under the Constitution, Congress can override the veto by two thirds vote of both Houses voting separately. But who will act as champions of a veto override as we enter the last two minutes of the election campaign?Thus, we have political as well as legal issues on a veto override. Very few legislators had issued press statement that supports a veto override.So, the 19th Congress is the new home court.
What are the legal parameters that should be studied,especially in the light of Professor Domino legal questions?
In my opinion, the following principles of law and existing statues are applicable to save the proposed law, namely:
- The exercise of the police power and public trust doctrine by the State.
- The balancing of interest between public good and private rights.
- The existence of other relevant laws like the Anti cyber crime, Gender law and others
- The complementary application of the National Privacy Act and the the proposed Sim card registration Act.
- The national ID system.
- Statistics on crimes, by categories , committed with the use of sim card that are not registered for the past 5years .
- Statistics on consumer complaints received due to the use of unregistered sim cards for the past 5 years from the NationalTelecommunications Commission.
Too bad, our country missed another goal for consumer welfare.
Atty. Vic Dimagiba, AB, LLB, LLM
President, Laban Konsyumer Inc.
Email at [email protected]