MANILA — The Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group on Monday called the use of the National ID in SIM card registration and requiring that it be done in person to help curb rampant cybercrime and online scams.
The government had touted mandatory registration as a measure against scams despite opposition from digital rights advocates who raised privacy concerns and had warned that it had not worked in other countries.
Speaking with ABS-CBN News, PNP-ACG director Police Maj. Gen. Wilson Asueta attributed the rise in cybercrime to weak identity authentication under current SIM registration policies.
“So, the SIM cards are spreading now that we cannot really find the true identity of the owner because you can easily register now SIM card through online, prepaid, then you can buy it anywhere,” Asueta said.
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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the SIM Card Registration Act, or Republic Act No. 11934, in 2022 to promote accountability in the use of SIM cards and help law enforcement track perpetrators of crimes committed through mobile phones.
Under the law, telecommunications companies and direct sellers are required to ask SIM card buyers for a valid ID.
Those who already owned SIM cards before the law took effect were also required to register them with telcos within a prescribed period or face deactivation.
But Asueta said the current policies remain insufficient.
“Well, there is not much identity authentication. So, then we need to use a National ID. Because if there are different IDs, they have no way to validate it in their system. So, they can easily get fake IDs also, then they will register it,” he said.
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He also suggested limiting SIM card ownership to a maximum of five per person and strengthening the monitoring of SIM card distribution and redistribution.
The latest Social Weather Stations survey showed that 8 percent of Filipino families reported having a member victimized by cybercrime in the past six months, up from 5.8 percent in March. The 8 percent figure is the highest recorded since SWS began monitoring cybercrime in 2023.