Villafuerte ecstatic over passage of SIM Card Registration Bill
Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. Luis “LRay” Villafuerte is ecstatic over the recent passage of the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card Registration Bill at the House of Representatives.

The lower chamber approved on third and final reading,the SIM Card Registration Bill or House Bill (HB) 14 last Monday, Sept. 19.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/19/house-gives-final-nod-to-sim-card-registration-bill/
“We commend congressional leaders led by Speaker Martin and Senate President Migz Zubiri for delivering on their earlier agreement in a caucus to pass before our first legislative break this October the bill requiring the mandatory registration of SIM (subscriber identification module) cards of both postpaid and prepaid cell phone subscribers,” Villafuerte said on Thursday, Sept. 22.
The leadership of both chambers of Congress--the House and the Senate--previously agreed to align their sights on swiftly passing the SIM Card Registration Bill and the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKEs) before Congress begins a month-long recess on Oct. 1.
“The swift congressional passage of the proposed SIM Card Registration Act is a must for the 19th Congress to better protect all mobile phone subscribers against the barrage of phone-based scams like smishing, particularly now when digital tricksters have managed to get more personal information, including the actual names of cellphone users they intend to swindle," Villafuerte said.
The approved SIM card measure was a consolidation of 14 different bills. One of the bills included in the consolidation was HB 2113, which Villafuerte, himself, principally authored.
“The apparent helplessness of our authorities in stopping cyber criminals from preying on millions of cellphone users through ‘smishing’ and other scams has become the darkside of the digital transformation in our country where there are more mobile phones than people...Hence, it is high time that we secure our mobile SIM cards from the proliferation of phone-based frauds through the mandatory registration of both prepaid and postpaid subscribers,” the Bicol solon said.
Villafuerte pointed out that the newly-approved measure does not include a provision pertaining to the registration of social media accounts.