THE National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and other concerned parties yesterday filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the SIM Card Registration Act.
Aside from seeking a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the law, the petitioners also asked the High Court to order telecommunication companies to “cease and desist” from using information stored in their SIM register and destroy data already gathered.
Joining the NUJP in the plea are journalist Ronalyn Olea, Lumad leader and former Bayan Muna party-list representative Eufemia Cullamat, Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes Jr., Llorre Benidicto Pasco, the mother of two “tokhang victims; transgender man Dean Matthias Razi Timtiman Alea, information technology professional Maded Batara III of Junk SIM Registration Network, fisherfolk leader Alberto Roldan of Pamalakaya, peasant leader Danilo Hernandez Ramos of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, and lawyer Michael Christopher de Castro.
Named respondents were the National Telecommunications Commission, the National Privacy Commission, and the Department of Information and Communications Technology, as well as private telecommunication firms.
The petition is the first case seeking legal action against the SIM Registration Act.
Sim card registration is set to end on April 26, 2023, unless an extension is approved.
Those who fail to register their SIM cards within the deadline risk having their cards deactivated.
As of April 13, less than 41 percent of all SIM cards in the country have been registered.
In their 59-page petition for certiorari and prohibition, the petitioners argued that mandatory SIM registration restricts the constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of speech and violates the right against unreasonable searches and seizures and the right to substantive due process.
“We assert the unconstitutionality of the SIM Registration Law which stands to disenfranchise at least 100 million as-yet-unregistered Filipinos,” they said, adding: “At present, access to communication is directly tied to the freedom of speech, especially as more and more of our lives are migrating to digital space.”
They argued that requiring registration of SIM (subscriber identity module) cards will heavily restrict this fundamental freedom for many Filipinos who are unable to register due to logistical or privacy concerns.
“It conditions the exercise of speech through the use of SIM cards by imposing a system of prior restraint through mandatory registration. Non-disclosure of the required information results in enforced silence, effectively ‘turning every citizen into a suspected criminal,’” they explained.
The SC in the Chavez v. Gonzales case described prior restraint as “official governmental restrictions on the press or other forms of expression in advance of actual publication or dissemination.”
“The regulation it imposes is content-based not because of the content it impedes which is everything that passes through a SIM card but because of the content it compels the disclosure of one’s identity,” the petitioners said.
They said the law is a “scam” because it tricks Filipinos into giving up their rights to speak freely and to remain private.
According to the petition, the law also violates the right against searches and seizures by intruding into the reasonable expectation of privacy of Filipinos over their SIM cards, and compelled disclosure of information which circumvents the requirement of a search warrant.
“As such, the law’s compelled disclosure, which is not sanctioned through a search warrant, and the subsequent exempted access of law enforcement, constitutes an unreasonable search under the Constitution,” they added.
