Romualdez says OFW families could be finding SIM registration difficult
House Speaker Martin Romualdez (PPAB)
House Speaker Martin Romualdez is worried that families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are finding it a challenge to have their subscriber identity module or SIM cards registered. “I suspect that OFW families in the provinces are finding it difficult to comply with the registration requirement. Some may even be unaware of it,” Romualdez said in a statement Friday, April 28. "Let us assist [OFWs] and their families to register. Their mobile phones are their principal means of communicating and connecting to each other. The thought that they could instantly make audio-video calls eases the pain of being thousands of miles away from home and from their loved ones,” the Leyte 1st district congressman explained. He said the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should help the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and telcos inform OFWs and their families of the registration requirement. Romualdez made this call just days after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. extended the SIM registration window for another 90 days. Republic Act (RA) No.11934 or the SIM registration law set the registration period between Dec. 27, 2022 and April 26, 2023. SIM cards are used to avail of network services on electronic devices such as mobile phones. The Speaker believes that many OFWs and their families back home here in the country are using unlisted prepaid SIMs because of the convenience of acquiring them. Romualdez lauded telcos for offering registration assistance and mechanisms for their postpaid and prepaid SIM users to list up. However, he asked them “to go the extra mile in seeking out people who have bought and used their SIMs and help them to register so they would be able to continue using their cellular phone service". “That is to the benefit of the telcos, financially,” he pointed out. “Let us help millions of Filipinos who have mobile phones, but who still have not registered their SIMs as required by law, to register. Let us make it easier for them to take advantage of the 90-day registration extension granted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,” he further said.