THE House of Representatives and the Senate are eyeing the passage on third and final reading of the proposed laws seeking the registration of all postpaid and prepaid mobile phone SIM cards by October 1, House majority leader Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe said on Friday, Sept. 9.
“We initially met last night (Thursday) to discuss our common legislative agenda. The House and Senate leaderships are eyeing the postponement of barangay and SK elections and passage of SIM card registration bill before our adjournment this September. This is to ensure that the entire Congress is moving forward in the same direction,” Dalipe said after their meeting with Speaker Martin G. Romualdez, Senate president Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, and Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva in Makati City.
Last Monday, the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology approved the SIM card registration bill as a rush of “personalized” text scams sent to mobile subscribers made it to the headlines.
Also among the priority measures being pushed by Congress this year are the E-Governance Act and the Internet Transaction Act.
According to Dalipe, House and Senate leaders will meet again to finalize the list of common priority legislations while awaiting the convening of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) to set the direction and other requests of the executive branch in terms of legislation.
