ILOILO City – Unless extended by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the last day of registration for Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards is tomorrow, April 26.
Ilonggos interviewed by this paper, however, favor a registration extension.
Under the SIM Card Registration Act or Republic Act (RA) 11934 signed into law in October 2022, unregistered SIMs will be deactivated after the April 26 deadline. This means their owners will not be able to text, call, use data and do other mobile services.
According to street vendor Grace Pareja, a resident of Barangay Sto. Niño Sur, Arevalo district, subscribers like her who do not have smartphones – she is using a low-tech feature phone) are unable to register and have to go to malls or outlets of public telecommunication entities (PTEs) such as Smart, Globe and DITO to seek assistance.
“Amo na nga dapat i-extend nila kay halos iban diri wala pa nakapa-register,” Pareja told Panay News.
The 120-day SIM card registration started on Dec. 27, 2022, and as of April 22, the number of registered SIMs in the country had reached 80,372,656 or 47.84 percent of the total 168,016,400 subscribers.
Pareja said she tried to register her SIM card last week.
“Para sa akon importante gid ‘ya nga mapa-register ang SIM kay sang time nga nag-pandemic asta subong damu-damo gid ang scam. Na-scam ako,” revealed Pareja.
John Edward Paul Rubino from Barangay Boulevard, Molo district, is also in favor of an extension despite being already registered.
“Consideration sa mga tawo nga wala pa maka-register,” he said.
Rubino registered on April 20. He did not want his SIM card deactivated and lose many contacts, especially his clients for watch cleaning and repair.
Joy Melendez, a cashier of a business establishment, and sales attendant Edelyn Verdeblanco, both from Mandurriao district, said extending the SIM registration would give everyone enough time.
According to Nila Tormon from Barangay Boulevard, Molo, it would be an advantage if the SIM registration is extended because it would give another chance to subscribers busy at work and had not yet registered.
“Iban wala pa man maka-register. Sa indi kabalo nga wala pa bala maka-register mahatagan sila sang another chance,” said Tormon.
She said that since she was aware the SIM registration would end this Wednesday, she sought help from a relative on how to register.
Tormon believes this could somehow help in solving text scam; scammers will be afraid of having their identities traced.
But for Tormon, the only way to avoid the scam is for everyone to be vigilant, ignore messages from an unknown person and do not believe in suspicious promotions or offerings.
“Indi ka magpadala-dala sa bisan ano pa nga istorya or text ilabi na kon parti sa kwarta. Kag sa tawo na ‘ya, kon magpa-intu ka, ti, damo gid mang-intu kon magsakay kaw sa text nila,” said Tormon.
Businessman Mario Ballete from the City Proper district said the same about proliferating scams and how SIM registration could help.
Ballete sought help from a relative because he found it difficult to register using the link provided by the telcos.
According to Ballete, someone called to inform him that he won a raffle, but he was confused because he didn’t even send any entries.
“Naglibog ang ulo ko kay wala man ako sang may gin-intrahan ngaa nagdaog ako. Nagapangayo sang GCash number, wala ko ginhatag kay bal-an ko nga scam,” he added./PN
