SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday urged the National Telecommunications Commission to strictly supervise telco providers amid the fraudulent use of SIM cards by cybercriminals, including those in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) industry.
“We want the NTC to crack the whip if telcos are not following the law and NTC rules. That’s the only way we can instill discipline because, for them, a SIM card sold means revenue,” Gatchalian said during the briefing for the proposed budget of the Department of Information and Communications Technology. The NTC is an attached agency under the DICT.
Gatchalian, a co-author of the SIM Registration Act, said the NTC should prevent the fraudulent registrations of SIMs by strictly supervising the telcos.
He said criminal syndicates, including those in the POGO industry, defraud unsuspecting victims using fraudulently registered SIMs.
Gatchalian said the “root cause” of the problem “(the) is easy access to SIM cards” even if there is already a SIM Registration Law.
Under the law, SIM cards are required to be registered before activation. It intends to curb cybercriminal activities and address issues related to trolling, hate speech, and online disinformation, among others.
“The root of the problem is easy access to SIM cards despite our SIM registration law. There is so much disappointment with its implementation. The NTC should prevent criminals from purchasing thousands of SIM cards and really implement the true spirit of the law, which is to allow legitimate people with good intentions to buy SIM cards. I believe the law is adequate and it is in the implementation of the law where the problem lies,” he said.
The NTC said it has already issued verification guidelines to enable telcos to put up a system that would prevent the fraudulent registration of SIMs. These guidelines include comparing submitted data with ID information using advanced technology such as facial recognition and facial matching.
A simulation by the National Privacy Commission, another DICT-attached agency, showed that Smart Communications was the only telco that successfully prevented fraudulent SIM registration.
Gatchalian said if Smart can prevent the fraudulent registration of SIMs, the other telcos should be able to do the same.
“Whatever Smart is doing, the other telcos should be able to do also. They should adopt the same technology,” he said.
“Higpitan pa natin (Let us be more strict). We don’t want fraudulent SIM registration to happen over and over again,” he stressed.
