The SIM Registration Act, officially designated as Republic Act No. 11934 and commonly referred to as the SIM card law, is a Philippine law mandating the registration of

SIM card A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout)A SIM card or SIM (subscriber identity module) is an integrated circuit (IC) intended to securely store an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number and its related key, which are u ...

s before activation. Under the measure, mobile device users must register their SIM cards, whether prepaid or

postpaid The postpaid mobile phone is a mobile phone for which service is provided by a prior arrangement with a mobile network operator. The user in this situation is billed after the fact according to their use of mobile services at the end of each mont ...

. The law was enacted intending to curb cybercriminal activities. The law also aims to address issues related to trolling, hate speech, and online disinformation. Human rights groups, media organizations, computer professionals, and labor groups have raised questions about how the law might violate rights to free speech, privacy, and due process.

Legislative history

18th Congress

A similar bill was initially passed in the 18th Congress but was

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...

ed by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

on April 14, 2022, due to the inclusion of

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

accounts, which Duterte "was constrained to disagree" with as it may "give rise to a situation of dangerous state intrusion and surveillance threatening many constitutionally protected rights".

House Bill No. 14

The bill was filed before the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

as House Bill No. 14. It passed on third and final reading on September 19, 2022, with 250 members voting for the measure while 6 voted against it.

Senate Bill No. 1310

Senator

Grace Poe Mary Grace Natividad Sonora Poe-Llamanzares (born September 3, 1968) is a Filipino politician, businesswoman, educator, and philanthropist serving as a senator since 2013. She was the chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classifi ...

sponsored the measure's Senate counterpart, Senate Bill No. 1310. It passed on third and final reading on September 27, 2022, with all Senators present voting for the bill.

Republic Act No. 11934

President

Bongbong Marcos Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (, , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child ...

signed the law on October 10, 2022.

Implementation

The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the law was enacted on December 27, 2022. Postpaid subscribers are considered to already be registered with telco companies, only having to confirm the existing details already saved with the telco companies. On the other hand, prepaid subscribers are required to undergo registration through an online portal. During the first day of registration, users struggled to register their SIMs as telco companies faced glitches on their registration platforms. By April 23, 2023, a few days before the original deadline, about 82.8 million SIMs were registered (49.31% of total active mobile subscribers). The deadline was later extended 90 days into July 25 upon appeals by telecom companies due to low percentage of registered SIM cards. The deactivation of unregistered

s started on July 26, 2023. Subscribers were given a five-day grace period to register their SIM cards until July 30, 2023. By the end of the grace period, the NTC reported that 113,969,014 SIM cards (or 67.83% of the 168,016,400 SIM cards in circulation) were registered. A total of 54,047,386 unregistered SIM cards were deactivated, resulting in the reduction of mobile subscribers: *

Globe Telecom Globe Telecom, Inc., commonly shortened as Globe, is a major provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines. The company operates one of the largest mobile, fixed-line and broadband networks in the Philippines. As of November 2023, ...

registered 53,727,298 subscribers (down from 86,746,672 subscribers in 2022, a total of 33,019,374 subscribers were deactivated) *

Smart Communications Smart Communications Inc., commonly referred to as Smart, is a wholly owned wireless communications and digital services subsidiary of PLDT Inc., a telecommunications and digital services provider based in the Philippines. As of November ...

registered 52,500,870 subscribers (down from 66,304761 subscribers in 2022, a total of 13,803,891 subscribers were deactivated) *

Dito Telecommunity Dito Telecommunity Corporation (stylized as DITO), formerly known as Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. or Mislatel, is a telecommunications company in the Philippines which is also engaged in the business of multimedia and information te ...

registered 7,740,346 subscribers (down from 14,964,967 subscribers in 2022, a total of 7,224,621 subscribers were deactivated)

Human rights and freedom of expression

Media advocacy groups and labor groups petitioned the

Supreme Court of the Philippines The Supreme Court (; colloquially referred to as the ' (also used in formal writing), is the highest court in the Philippines. It was established by the Taft Commission on June 11, 1901, through the enactment of Act No. 136, which abolished th ...

for a temporary restraining order (TRO) for the implementation of the law, arguing that the law violates free speech, data privacy, and due process. The petition called the law a form of "constitutionally impermissible prior restraint". The Supreme Court denied the TRO petition but ordered government agencies to submit their responses to questions regarding the law's constitutionality. Human rights groups called on Congress to repeal the law, citing issues relating to "rights to privacy, free expression and information, association, and non-discrimination in the Philippines". An online petition started by the Computer Professionals' Union challenging the law contended that the law erodes freedom of expression and could be used for

mass surveillance Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by Local government, local and federal governments or intell ...

and authoritarianism when used alongside the Philippine

Anti-Terror Law Anti-terrorism legislation are laws aimed at fighting terrorism. They usually, if not always, follow specific bombings or assassinations. Anti-terrorism legislation usually includes specific amendments allowing the state to bypass its own legisl ...

References

* SIM Registration Act on Wikisource {{Bongbong Marcos Philippine legislation 2023 in the Philippines Presidency of Bongbong Marcos Telecommunications in the Philippines