SIM registration 90-day extension: A good call or a bad precedent?

The announcement last Tuesday, April 25, 2023 of the President’s approval of the extension of the SIM registration by 90 days was met with opposite reactions. Depending on who you talked to, there are those who approved of the government’s compassionate move to ensure that no legitimate SIM will be deactivated after the April 26 deadline, but there are also those who were disappointed, saying that after 180 days and multiple reminders, there are still those who failed to comply with the law.
The Palace, however, was circumspect when it came to this issue. Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan Uy said, “We urge our kababayans to take advantage of this extension to register their SIM cards. With the 90 days, we believe that we have already given a lot of time to the public in order to fulfill the requirements of the law.”
In a statement, the DICT reported that around 82 million SIM cards have already been registered as of April 23. With that, there’s an estimated 15 to 20 million active SIM cards that still need to be registered. Overall, Uy said they are “expecting that the total SIM card registration will be about a hundred million and the remaining 50 million are disposable ones that are being used for different purposes, either for telemarketing or for scamming.”
With the extension, telcos breathed a sigh of relief, noting that this would give more time to their subscribers to comply with the law, especially those who are still waiting for their government-issued IDs. Both PLDT-Smart and Globe, in separate statements, welcomed the extension and vowed to intensify their registration campaigns. They also plan to launch more activities to encourage registration and use their nationwide branches to reach out to less tech savvy Filipinos.
On the DICT’s part, it is studying if it needs to impose gradual “disincentives” — where unregistered SIM cards slowly lose access to some apps or social media platforms. The department also came up with a list of areas or provinces that have low turnout of registrants. This is a practical and cost-effective move, as efforts must be targeted in remote areas or far-flung communities.
At the Senate, Senator Grace Poe also welcomed the extension, and said that the SIM registration was “meant to promote the responsible use of SIM and to halt the abuses of scammers and criminals; it is not meant to punish legitimate SIM subscribers, especially those in remote areas."
What’s needed now, the senator said, is to “boost information dissemination of the SIM Registration Act now that the deadline has been extended.”
But more than that, there should be “finality” with the 90-day extension — no more reprieves and another round of extension after July 25. The law has to be followed and unregistered SIM cards must cease to exist after that time. We all have to remember that our country is governed and strengthened by laws; it can’t exist with laws that have flexible provisions and movable deadlines.
Let this 90-day extension be the government’s way of saying that it listens to the concerns of its citizens. But after this new deadline, it must step its foot down and not allow for an extension to turn into a bad precedent for other laws.