A House leader is asking the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) to reconsider its decision to move the SIM registration deadline to April from the original June deadline.

“Absent any effort to make the registration more inclusive and accessible, moving the deadline earlier is not the right way to go,” Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda said in a statement Saturday, Jan. 14.

Salceda, chairman of House Committee on Ways and Means, said the DICT's decision “is premature, since we don’t know how quickly most Filipinos will be able to register".

“It’s highly unusual to make that decision. Whatever the merits, let’s just stick to what the law says,” Salceda said, referring to the 180-day registration period prescribed by the implementing rules and regulations of the act.

Republic Act (RA) No.11934 or the SIM Registration Act mandates the registration of all SIM cards in the country within a given time period. SIM stands for subscriber identity module.

The DICT's proposal would cut short the registration period to just 120 days, a “unilateral decision that the DICT is not within its bounds to make,” Salceda said.

The Bicolano, who believes that the SIM card registration law is a net positive overall, “especially for cybersecurity and for fighting text and call scams,” says he still believes “The DICT should have made the decision much closer to the actual date.”

“Remember that the registration is mostly online, and you have some three million Filipino mobile users who are not using smartphones. So, let’s be fair to them. Another 1.3 million young users of smartphones do not have any reliable access to mobile data. And if you deactivate their SIM, you would affect their studies," he explained.

Salceda also reminded DICT that the law stipulates that the registration period is 180 days, “which only began on Dec. 27, with some heavy traffic issues at that. So, registration, as per the law, should really end by June 27, 2023. And that’s still extendible.”

The SIM card registration act's implementing rules and regulations earlier stated that the registration could be extended by authorities by 120 days even after the 180-day period.

Salceda also appealed that “extra avenues for registration be given to senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and those living in geographically isolated and displaced areas".