View from Palace: Why not make SIM registration done ‘in person’?
Malacañang is open to giving more teeth to the 2022 law requiring the registration of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards in mobile phones for a tougher crackdown on online and text scams.
At a press briefing on Thursday, Palace media officer Claire Castro cited a need to amend Republic Act No. 11934, or the SIM Card Registration Act, and require the physical presence of card owners during the registration process.
“As a lawyer, I think there should be amendments especially in the SIM card registration. The process should be similar to the process in applying for a driver’s license—you go there personally. Even if you apply for a National Bureau of Investigation clearance, you have to be there in person,” Castro said.
She said scammers had found a loophole in the current law and “this became the source of the problem in the registration process.”
Smiling monkey
“They say even monkeys can register SIM cards. This is really a travesty of our law,” Castro said.
It was a reference to statements made by the NBI during a 2023 Senate hearing in September 2023 that, to test the system, it was able to register a SIM card using a fake ID with a smiling monkey’s photo.
“SIM cards should be registered properly. We have to avoid scams that enable anyone to buy a SIM card or enable anyone to sell or buy another’s identity. We will have an even more difficult time fighting crime if this happens,” Castro said.
The Palace official’s remarks were in reaction to concerns raised by Sen. Risa Hontiveros over the resurgence—or “reinvention”—of Philippine offshore gaming operators, or Pogos, which the Marcos administration had banned for being fronts for online and text scamming operations.
Authorities continue to find alleged Pogos in Metro Manila, rounding up hundreds of mostly foreign workers, despite the ban.
Hontiveros earlier warned that Pogo bosses had remained in the country to run smaller, “guerrilla” operations.
On Wednesday, the opposition senator called on President Marcos to consider imposing a moratorium on all online gaming activities to allow the government to address any loophole being exploited by defiant Pogos.
