ILOILO City – The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Region 6 welcomed the 90-day extension of subscriber identity module (SIM) card registration mandated by Republic Act (RA) 11934, or the SIM Registration Act
Justice secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla announced the extension yesterday morning after President Ferdinand “Bongbong “ Marcos Jr. met with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and other government officials to discuss the deadline originally scheduled for today, April 26.
Engr. Leah dela Cruz Doromal, officer-in-charge director of NTC-6, said that although they have not yet received any official documents or directives from NTC commissioner Ella Blanca Lopez or the DICT officials regarding the extension as of 2 p.m. yesterday, they are ready to comply.
“We will follow, wala man problema kay kami sa NTC, we will follow kon ano ang directive sang amon commissioner,” Doromal told Panay News yesterday.
Meanwhile, Atty. Deo Virgil Tan, legal officer of NTC-6, said they welcome the extension but will wait for the directive of the NTC central office or DICT on what actions they would take to better cater to the subscribers or mobile phone end-users.
“We welcome it, number one because it is also to give time to those who have not yet registered their SIM,” Tan said in an interview with Panay News.
He explained that it is easy to register a SIM card. All that mobile phone end-users need is a stable internet connection to access the links of public telecommunication entities (PTEs) or telecommunication companies such as Smart, Globe and DITO.
Here are the links to remember for the SIM card registration:
* for DITO subscribers – https://dito.ph/RegisterDITO
* for Globe subscribers – https://new.globe.com.ph/simreg
* for Smart subscribers – https://smart.com.ph/simreg
“You can do this at home, you just need a stable connection or wifi. Or kon wala ka signal puede ka kadto sa lugar nga may ara sang signal. So, ang SIM registration could be accessed by anybody,” added Tan.
As of April 22, there were 80,372,656 registered SIMs in the country or 47.84 percent of the total of 168,016,400 subscribers.
NTC-6 is also ready to extend facilitated registration to remote areas to assist mobile phone end-users.
Remote areas, according to Tan, are geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA) with limited cell sites, among others.
Tan said NTC-6 personnel have already reached almost 50 towns in the region for facilitated SIM card registration and have registered more than 20,000 numbers.
Aside from the NTC, PTEs conducted facilitated SIM card registrations.
With the extension, Doromal and Tan encouraged those who had not yet registered to grab the opportunity and avoid deactivation.
“Since the government has extended the implementation of RA 11934 for another 90 days if you want to continue using your numbers, please do register your SIM,” said Doromal, with the assurance that all information provided by the public is safe and confidential.
“Deactivated state” refers to the condition or status of a SIM that renders it incapable of being used for outgoing and incoming calls, internet access, or sending and receiving messages, except for exclusively enabling and informing such a SIM to be registered.
The NTC-6 legal officer also reminded subscribers to provide the correct information when registering their SIM because there will be a corresponding penalty for those who give fictitious information.
Under the implementing rules and regulations of RA 11934, the penalty of imprisonment ranging from six months to two years or a fine of not less than P100,000 but not more than P300,000, or both, shall be imposed upon anyone who provides false or fictitious information or who uses a fictitious identity or fraudulent identification documents to register a SIM.
Meanwhile, these are the valid government-issued identification (ID) cards or other similar forms of documents with a photo needed to verify the identity of the end-user: Passport, Philippine Identification Card, Social Security Service, Government Service Insurance System e-card, driver’s license, National Bureau of Investigation clearance, police clearance, Firearms’ License to Own and Possess ID, Professional Regulation Commission ID, Integrated Bar of the Philippines ID, Overseas Workers Welfare Development ID, Bureau of Internal Revenue ID, Voters’ ID, and senior citizens’ ID, among others.
Only one valid government-issued ID is needed for the registration form./PN
