Final push: Villafuerte tells LGU execs to ensure registration of remaining unlisted SIMs

(Unsplash)


Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte is calling on local government unit (LGU) officials all over the country to exert extra effort in ensuring that the owners of the remaining 10 million or so unregistered SIM cards would beat the registration deadline. “LGU executives to go the extra mile with PTEs (public telecommunications entities) in signing up between now and the July 25 deadline of as many as an estimated 10 million still-unregistered SIMs, so as not to disenfranchise their legit owners from cyberspace," Villafuerte said in a statement Monday, June 26. According to the Bicolano, a significant chunk of Filipinos aren't connected to the web, thus the need for grassroots support as far as registration is concerned. “The support of LGUs is crucial to helping the government achieve its original target of registering 100 million to 110 million SIMs of legit owners by the end of the extended list-up period, given that the DICT itself has revealed that 65 percent—or roughly two out of every three Filipinos—are not connected to the Internet,” he said. Villafuerte said that for the next four weeks, the focus should be on registering the SIMs of those with non-data cellular phones as well as those of persons with disabilities (PWDs) and elderly Filipinos, most especially those in far-flung or remote places with weak or no Internet connections. “LGU executives, especially those in remote or underserved areas, can best help PTEs do so by persuading their respective constituents to register, putting up or increasing the number of  venues where people can sign up their SIMs online, and providing on-site list-up assistance in their respective localities during these four remaining registration weeks,”  said the Commission on Appointments (CA) majority leader. SIM stands for subscriber identity module. SIM cards are used to avail of network services on electronic devices such as mobile phones. Republic Act (RA) No.11934 or the SIM Registration Law set the initial SIM card registration window between Dec. 27, 2022 and April 26, 2023. The deadline was later deferred after the low turnout of registrants. Meanwhile, DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said the next four weeks will be the "last chance" for those with unlisted SIMs to have these included in the national database, as their SIMs will automatically be deactivated the day after the July 25 deadline. “We gave them all the opportunities to register and we even extended it to give them more time.” At any rate, Uy said: "We have registered 100 million SIM cards, and our population is more or less 110 million. So, I think we have a very good number and very successful SIM card registration."