The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has continued its assistance and information campaign to educate and encourage subscribers to register their SIMs, reaching out to senior citizens residents in Tugatog, Malabon City.
In an event streamed live on Facebook dubbed “Kwentuhan sa Simbahan” hosted by the Public and Political Affairs Ministry last March 4 at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish Church, NTC Legal Branch Officer-in-Charge Atty. Andres D. Castelar, Jr. presented the key features of Republic Act No. 11934, or the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act to an audience of senior citizens in Malabon and Caloocan City.
Atty. Castelar proceeded to answer the various questions and concerns of seniors on data privacy and the registration process.
“Ito po ang kauna-unahang batas na pinirmahan ng ating mahal na Pangulong PBBM at agad napansin po ng NTC na simulang maipatupad itong batas, mula 1500 na complaints tungkol sa Text Scam, bumaba na po agad ito to 100 complaints a day, at wala pa po tayo sa deadline ng April 26," she explained.
“The telecom providers are the custodians of the SIM Register and the law provides harsh penalties for intentional disclosures of SIM registration data or breaches caused by negligence," said Atty. Castelar, assuring the seniors of Malabon and Caloocan in attendance that their personal information is protected by the SIM Registration Law.
Telecom providers have already been keeping postpaid subscriber data confidential over the years.
The SIM Register also allows prepaid subscribers to retrieve their prepaid numbers in the event of loss or damage of their SIMs because of the registration information stored in the SIM Register.
The event was organized by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, complementing the NTC’s continuing conduct of Facilitated SIM Registration in Remote Areas all over the country.
To date, 222 remote areas within the country have been visited by NTC’s Facilitated SIM Registration caravan.
As of 09 March 2023, the public telecommunications entities (PTEs) reported 42.7M successful SIM registrations representing 25.24% of the total 168 million active SIM subscribers as of September 2022.
An updated daily tally of successful SIM registrations may be viewed on the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) website at https://ntc.gov.ph.
