queen777 DICT admits gaps in SIM registration, calls for stricter implementation

Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has acknowledged gaps in implementing the SIM Card Registration Law, stressing the need for stricter identity verification measures.

Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy made this statement on Tuesday after Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla criticized the law as ineffective due to weak identity management, particularly its failure to require a national ID for SIM card registration.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) said that it, along with dealer partner SJ Legacy Motors Inc., inaugurated their new branch at the SM City San Jose Del Monte on Sept. 27.

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Uy explained that while the law aimed to curb scams and fraudulent activities, many Filipinos struggled to register due to a lack of valid identification.

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“The deadline was approaching, and many Filipinos, especially those in the provinces, could not register because they had no IDs,” Uy said in Filipino during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum on Wednesday.

“There was a public clamor… What do we do now? Many people had no IDs. What was the response of telcos? What did legislators suggest? What would DICT, PLDT, Globe, Smart, DITO, and NTC do? People couldn’t register without an ID,” he added.

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READ: The arduous process of acquiring IDs for Filipinos

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To address this, the government initially allowed alternative forms of identification to facilitate registration. However, Uy admitted this led to loopholes.

“The directive was to accept any form of ID to allow registration. That was a disaster because even fake IDs were used,” he said in Filipino.

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As a result, scammers exploited the system to register multiple SIM cards, enabling fraudulent activities to persist, he added.

Uy stressed the need to integrate the national ID system into SIM card registration, as also pointed out by Remulla.

“What Secretary Jonvic said is that identity management needs to be enhanced… We need to plug that gap,” he said in Filipino.

The DICT chief also noted that with 85 million digital national IDs now issued, SIM card holders should be required to update their registration using their national ID.

Uy said telecommunication companies must enforce compliance by warning users who fail to update their registration, adding that non-compliant SIM cards should be deactivated.

“This will clean up the system,” he added.

Uy admitted that implementation issues arose because authorities initially lowered the standard for valid IDs.

“That’s what he (Remulla) was saying—that telcos should now implement a mechanism to make the SIM Card Registration Law more effective. Medyo nagkaroon ng gap (There was a gap) in the implementation because we lowered the standard on identity. We lowered the standard on what valid IDs can be used to register,” he explained.

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Remulla earlier pointed out that the failure to integrate the national ID system into SIM registration allowed illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogo) to thrive.

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“The problem is that our national ID system is not yet integrated with telcos. That’s why Pogo operations proliferated because the SIM Card Registration Act was not as effective due to the lack of a national ID requirement,” Remulla said in Filipino during a Palace briefing on Tuesday.

“Sometimesqueen777, one person can buy a hundred SIM cards. That system needs to be integrated as well,” he added.

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