Introduced by Sen. Manny Villar, the Senate Bill No. 2644 (or Prepaid SIM Card Registration) is “an act of requiring the registration of the buyers of prepaid SIM cards, and providing penalties for the violation thereof”.
Filed in January 20, 2011, the bill seeks to address some “text messaging related scams” and other crimes that involve the use of disposable prepaid SIM cards.
Inquirer.net reports that the Department of Justice has endorsed this bill as well:
Villar, in his proposed SB No. 2644 said that prepaid SIM cards are used by criminals in committing money-making activities such as e-raffle and random lottery.
Prepaid SIM cards, he added, have also become a tool of the so-called “dugong-dugong” gang to commit robbery or extort money from their victims.
The bill proposes that all sellers of prepaid SIM cards will require buyers to present government issued identification cards and record all personal information of the buyer.
The bill proposes a penalty of a fine ranging from P100,000 to P1 million and imprisonment from one year to two years for all violators.
Already wrote my piece about SIM card registration here before.
This is not new since telcos are already doing SIM card registration to all postpaid users — over 2 million subscribers are required to register their name and address when getting a postpaid SIM card. This process is just being duplicated to all non-postpaid (prepaid) users.
I’m sure the all postpaid subscribers would agree that this is a secure process — otherwise, I don’t think they’ll remain in postpaid and have their name registered anyways.
Twitter: sylv3rblade
says:
@deuts
umm email validation isn’t really a deterrent
Parang sa credit card and ATMs lang yan. Pag nawala report kagad. Ang problema lang dyan ay yung pag register pag binili sa tindahan.
It’s about time! Vietnam implemented this before in 2008. It should be done to prevent abuse and ensure better accountability.
@deuts
no use din if email lang. dali lang gumawa ng email accounts. may ip address logs naman si yuga e not unless may gumagamit ng proxies lol.
ok lets say na approve na tong bill. ano na mangyayari sa may sim na? force registration ba.
best way if gusto nio talaga ng security e national id system. tapos un id number lang ang iinput sa sim card registration para wala ng info na ittype or issave.
Rising 3rd world countries are doing this. G20 countries are doing this.
Iwan na iwan na ang Pinas sa ibang bansa tapos dami pang mga asungot na nagrereklamo kasi merong ganitong klaseng bill?
Dapat maisabatas ang bill na ito. This will be for the benefit of the greater good. Post-paid subscribers never complain when the telcos ask for their personal information when subscribing for their services. I bet a vast majority of post-paid subscribers have a separate pre-paid line. So there is no point in complaining if this bill is implemented.
Makikitid utak ng mga taong ayaw maisatupad ang batas na ito.
Ok sana itong bill na ito pero mahirap din kasi dapat meron lang talagang designated na tindahan ng simcard kasi kung sa mga sari-sari store ka lang bibili at mag reregister tingin ko hindi safe ang information mo sa kanila.
Anyway I’m in favor of this bill.
@poche
Why on something not yet in place (the national ID) when there’s already an existing system for this (the telcos)?
Oh and for those who already have simcards? The solution is quite simple but I can guarantee you or anyone against the bill won’t like it.
I’m pro registration. About purchasing at retailers/sari-sari store issue, I think that has to change. There would be authorized resellers of SIM cards like 7-11 and/or net cafes where registration would be over the internet and you’ll be the one to register the ICCID to get it activated. Something like that.
I would also like to suggest phone registration (IMEI) but that would be another case. In south korea, only the phones bought in Korea will work with their local SIM cards. That’s another way of minimizing criminal acts with cellphones. And also, if the government seriously wants to stop smuggling, this is one way of doing it.
Twitter: hex614
says:
they should implement it asap. para mabawasan ang manloloko. for existing prepaid. they should require all to register, dapat mag put up sila ng sight or booth para dun magpa reg ang mga users. dapat my i.d. kasabay ng registration. para matigil ang mga kalokohan dto sa pinas. pag ginawa nila yan dun na magkaka alaman kung sino ang mas maraming subscriber. kasi smart is claiming na marami daw silang subscriber ang tanong lahat ba yun active? lahat ba yun nag lo-load regularly. kasi ako i have smart pero once a month ko lang mag load dun 30 pesos lang. kasi i have a globe postpaid naman.
@mindy, i could have superliked your point
I guess a lot of shady people are starting to get wary on this bill.
@everyone, ive been getting a lot of spam on my sun postpaid from prepaid ones. I wonder how do this pinoy sms spammers are getting our nos. They keep sending loan stuffs every other day with different numbers. If this bill is at push, i hope our numbers and infos wont get to the wrong hands
cheers,
hw
dapat lang cguro my registration n nga ang sim card…
para dun sa mga nawawalan ng Cellphone… na amy mobile tracker kagaya ng samsung model.
dhil dun sa mobile tracker ng samsung… sakaling manakaw ung cp mo.. eh malalaman mo kung nakanino na at saan n napunta ung cp mo.. maari mo pang mabawi… masakit mawalan ng CP ha..
SIR DAPAT GAWA KA NG LAW.LAHAT NG CELLPHONE OR ELECTRONICS GADGETS/UNITS MERON PERMITS NA GALING SA CITY ENGINEERS OFFICE.PARA PO MA MATERIALIZED PO ANG R.A.9292 KNOWN AS ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING LAW. HOPING MAGAWA MO PO ITO, SALAMAT
[...] also wrote the benefits and disadvantages of doing SIM registration earlier this year as well as a proposed bill by Sen. Manny Villar (Senate Bill No. [...]