Digital space now safer – Marcos Jr.  

MANILA, Philippines — Days after the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) expressed openness to extend the April 26 SIM registration deadline, President Marcos encouraged Filipinos to register their SIM, saying the digital space is becoming safer.

In a tweet posted last Wednesday, Marcos said the number of text scam complaints received by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has dropped by 93.3 percent after the implementation of the SIM Card Registration Act.

Our digital space is gradually becoming safer so we continue to invite everyone to register for a secured business, work and livelihood,” the President said in Filipino.

The SIM Card Registration Act, which aims to stop the spread of spam text messages and curb crimes committed through mobile phones, was signed into law last October. It is the first measure signed into law under Marcos. The law requires public telecommunication entities to ensure the registration of existing pre-paid SIM card phone subscribers within a prescribed period or face deactivation of services. It also allows the DICT to extend the registration period by at least 120 days.

The deadline for the registration of SIM cards has been set on April 26. However, the DICT is now studying whether to extend the deadline as only about 25 percent of subscribers have so far registered. Some 41.47 million of the 169.98 million SIMs across the country were registered with telco providers as of March 7, according to the NTC.