BAGUIO CITY – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Cordillera has called local government units (LGUs), through their local chief executives (LCEs), in the region to assist the national government in its information campaign on the implementation of Republic Act No. 11934, or the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act, which took effect on December 27 last year.
“I urge all of our LCEs to make every effort to promote responsible SIM card use, educate their stakeholders on the benefits of mandatory SIM card registration, and guide them through the entire registration process,” said DILG CAR Regional Director Araceli San Jose.
Underscoring the need for a comprehensive information campaign to be carried out at the grassroots level, LGUs should take the lead in educating the public on the significance and requirements of the law.
“We also seek the assistance of our punong barangay in remote areas in setting up registration centers and assisting in processing needed documents and other requirements,” she said.
RD San Jose stated that the SIM Registration Act will assist the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other law enforcement agencies in combating the country’s rising electronic communication-aided criminal activities such as mobile phishing, text spam, online scams, bank frauds, and identity theft.
It can be recalled that RA 11934 was signed into law by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. It aims to regulate the registration and use of SIMs by mandating all end-users to register their SIMs with their respective telecommunications networks before their activation.
Section 4 of the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) implementing rules and regulations (IRR) states that DILG, along with other government agencies such as DICT, NTC, DepEd, and telecom companies, must “facilitate all SIM registrations in remote areas with limited telecommunication or internet access.”
“Rest assured that the DILG Cordillera together with the LGUs will cooperate with DICT and the NTC to fast-track the establishment of registration facilities in geographically-isolated areas, which should be done within 60 days after December 27,” RD San Jose said. By PMTG
