Sen. Grace Poe has refiled her bill on SIM registration in a bid to stop mobile phone-aided scams while Sen. Loren Legarda filed Senate Bill No. 1 or the “One Tablet, One Student Act of 2022”.
Under Poe’s bill, local telcos shall require SIM card registration as a prerequisite to its sale and activation.
It can be recalled that the 18th Congress passed the Poe-sponsored measure, which faced a snag when it was vetoed by the last administration owing to the provision on social media account registration proposed by former Sen. Franklin Drilon.
Poe said she is open to discussing with her colleagues in the new Congress if the said provision can be incorporated anew in the bill or as a subject of another legislation.
“We must not turn a blind eye to the untold misery of millions of our people who are further mired in debts and sunk in poverty after falling prey to these unceasing text scams,” Poe said. “Registration shall be at no cost to end users.”
All existing SIM card subscribers shall register with their respective telcos within 180 days from the measure’s effectivity. An extension of 120 days shall be allowed upon a valid written request to the Department of Information and Communications Technology. Failure to do so will authorize the telcos to automatically retire the SIM card number.
The registration form shall be accomplished electronically and kept in a centralized database of the telco. No disclosure of information obtained in the registration process shall be allowed except in compliance with any law obligating it in accordance with the Data Privacy Act, upon court order or with the written consent of the subscriber.
Breach of confidentiality by any telco shall be meted penalties: first offense, a fine not to exceed P300,000; second offense, not more than P500,000; third and subsequent offense, a fine not exceeding P1 million for every offense.
The unauthorized sale of registered SIM cards shall also be penalized by imprisonment of no less than six years and/or a fine of P200,000.
As of March 31, 2022, Globe has 87.4 million subscribers while Smart has 70.3 million. As of end-2021, Dito reported having five million subscribers.
Meanwhile, Legarda’s proposed measure aims to give each elementary and secondary level student in public schools, as well as those enrolled in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), a tablet to help them adapt to the online learning system being implemented by the Department of Education (DepEd) since early 2020 due to the current health crisis.
“By giving the students their much-needed device for learning, they would be able to participate effectively in their classes, and thus, we give them the opportunity to acquire more knowledge and become skilled after they graduate. It is one way of making quality education accessible to all, especially to those who cannot afford to buy their own gadgets,” said Legarda.
The senator added that those students who already have their learning gadgets should instead be provided with Internet allowance to cover the cost of connectivity.
Along with DepEd, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) shall be tasked to implement the program, determine the eligibility of students who will qualify, develop an effective distribution system, and formulate guidelines on the usage, maintenance, and accountability for the tablet.
Under SB 1, the DepEd and CHED, in coordination with the local government units through the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the DICT, shall disseminate the implementing rules and regulations for the effective implementation of the program.
While the DepEd already announced the implementation of full face-to-face classes in November, Legarda stressed that the “One Tablet, One Student” program would still be necessary and beneficial as the number of Covid-19 cases and the positivity rate in the country has been increasing.
“The pandemic is not yet over. With the current trend in Covid-19 cases in our country and as new variants of the virus continue to emerge, we cannot guarantee that we will no longer need to revert to online learning. So, we are pushing for this bill in the Senate,” Legarda pointed out.
