Senate passes SIM Card Registration Act

Sen. Bill 1310, also known as the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card Registration Act, was approved by all senators in attendance at the Senate's 25th regular session on Tuesday, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Committee on Public Services, thanked her 19 colleagues for approving the measure.

She also cited Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III and Senator Pia Cayetano for their relevant amendments.

"Finally, meron na tayong magagawa (we can do something) aside from just ignoring, deleting, or blocking the numbers with fraudulent or spam messages," Poe said in her privilege speech.

"We now have in our hands the means to unmask the criminals who have been hiding for so long under the protection of anonymity and to bring them to justice," she added.

Senate Bill 1310 aims to curb mobile phone and electronic communication-aided crimes by requiring all mobile phone users to present valid government-issued identification and documents in registering their SIMs or eSIMs.

Telecommunications companies (telcos) will be tasked to protect subscribers’ personal information under the regulation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

The House of Representatives’ approved version imposes fines ranging from PHP5,000 to PHP1 million on telcos, their authorized SIM card sellers, and even government workers who will fail to comply with the law.

A bicameral conference will merge the two versions of the bill before it is submitted for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature.