Saving face by amending the SIM card law

By Rose de la Cruz

Recognizing the lapses and failures of the SIM card law that it produced during the Duterte administration, Congress is now looking to amend (and save its face) by amending the defective and ineffective law, which has failed its objective of preventing scams and digital criminals from victimizing mobile phone users.

Text scams have proliferated even more vigorously with the law very much in place and Congress wants to strengthen it to prevent more cybercriminals from taking advantage of its weaknesses, said Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Surigao del Norte) in a statement.

He said: “The law was intended to curb cybercriminal activities’ address issues related to trolling, hate speech and online disinformation. But what we are seeing and witnessing today is that online scamming activities continue and remain unabated.”

Authorities had found stashes of unused SIM cards in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) raided by authorities,  Business World quoted Barbers’ statement.

“During the raids recently conducted by Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission agents in POGO facilities in Bamban and Porac towns in Pampanga, they recovered more than 50,000 unused SIM cards,” he pointed out.

“We all know too well that these POGO operators and workers won’t use them for good intentions,” he added.

President Marcos, Jr. in his 3rd SONA last week ordered a total ban on POGOs, citing their links to illegal activities including money laundering and financial scams.

He ordered the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to wind down and end the operations of all POGO facilities by year-end. He also ordered the Department of Labor and Employment to find jobs for displaced POGO workers.

“We hear the loud cry of the people against POGOs. The grave abuse and disrespect to our system of laws must stop,” the President said.

The reputational risk from POGOs, which mostly involve Chinese nationals and cater to Chinese markets, could cost the government P55.36 billion in forgone investments due to crimes linked to them, and P29.01 billion in forgone revenues in tourism, the Department of Finance said earlier.

Barbers said crime syndicates buy prepaid SIM cards in bulk and have managed to bypass the registration system.

“To minimize or stop online scamming and illegal transactions that victimizes unsuspecting victims, we should amend and add more teeth to the SIM Card Law to put a stop and make obsolete those various scamming schemes,” he said but did not mention how the law would be strengthened.

Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian last month said POGOs have exploited regulatory failure to implement the 2022 law that mandated the registration of SIM cards.

The law is supposed to provide accountability for those using SIM cards and support law enforcement in tracking perpetrators of crimes committed through phones, he said. “Because the National Telecommunications Commission has apparently forgotten its responsibility, scammers in the POGO industry continue to use SIM cards unabatedly,” he added.