Villanueva: Senate to monitor success of SIM Registration Act
Published Jul 12, 2023 01:20 pm
The Senate will monitor if the automatic deactivation of non-registered Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) could help address and contribute to reducing, if not eliminating, text scams and other cyber-related crimes, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva on Wednesday, July 12, said.
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva (Senate PRIB Photo)
Villanueva issued the statement as the SIM registration is still ongoing up to July 25, 2023. Data from the the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) shows that the number of registered SIM cards as of July 9, 2023 is 102.54 million out of 168.02 million SIM cards, or around 61.03 percent of total. "Nonetheless, we urge the NTC (National Telecommunications Commission), PNP (Philippine National Police), and other relevant agencies, as well as our partners in the private sector, to ramp up information campaigns on the various schemes used to trick our citizens into losing their hard-earned money," Villanueva said. The Majority Leader said the Senate could also look into revisiting existing laws, including the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, to determine how the law could be further strengthened, especially now that online scams are increasing. "In fact, we filed Senate Resolution No. 641 which seeks to look into unauthorized and unregistered Online Lending Platforms that have been harassing borrowers through abusive collection schemes,’’ he stressed. "Hindi lamang po sapat na mahuli ang mga salarin, dapat rin silang mapatawan ng karampatang parusa (it is not enough that violators would be arrested, they should slapped with appropriate penalties)," he added.
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva (Senate PRIB Photo)
Villanueva issued the statement as the SIM registration is still ongoing up to July 25, 2023. Data from the the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) shows that the number of registered SIM cards as of July 9, 2023 is 102.54 million out of 168.02 million SIM cards, or around 61.03 percent of total. "Nonetheless, we urge the NTC (National Telecommunications Commission), PNP (Philippine National Police), and other relevant agencies, as well as our partners in the private sector, to ramp up information campaigns on the various schemes used to trick our citizens into losing their hard-earned money," Villanueva said. The Majority Leader said the Senate could also look into revisiting existing laws, including the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, to determine how the law could be further strengthened, especially now that online scams are increasing. "In fact, we filed Senate Resolution No. 641 which seeks to look into unauthorized and unregistered Online Lending Platforms that have been harassing borrowers through abusive collection schemes,’’ he stressed. "Hindi lamang po sapat na mahuli ang mga salarin, dapat rin silang mapatawan ng karampatang parusa (it is not enough that violators would be arrested, they should slapped with appropriate penalties)," he added.