Social media registration should be separate from SIM card registration, says lawmaker

MANILA – Social media registration should be the subject of a separate bill and not inserted as a provision in the SIM Card Registration Act, a lawmaker said Tuesday.

Muntinlupa Representative Ruffy Biazon, one of the bill’s proponents, said social media registration needs to be discussed in greater detail because the bill vetoed by President Rodrigo Duterte did not give details on the process of registering social media accounts.

• Duterte vetoes SIM card registration act due to social media provision

“In the bill that was presented to the president there was just a mere insertion of a sentence with regard to social media registration. But there were no details with regard to how really to regulate it. Unlike the subject of sim card registration, the procedures [are] somehow extensive in the bill.”

“So, such an important topic, social media registration, I believe, should undergo an extensive discussion and that would be best approached by a bill specifically for social media registration,” he added.

Biazon said some lawmakers are open to refiling the bill on registering SIM cards. "Just remove the provision on social media registration," he said. 

Duterte vetoed the social media registration bill, noting the inclusion of social media providers in the registration requirement was "not part of the original version of the bill and needs a more thorough study," said acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar.

Two lawmakers have welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte's rejection of the SIM Card Registration Bill, which was supposed to deter cybercrimes and troll farms.

• Zarate: SIM card registration bill would give government ‘Big Brother’ powers

Opposition senator Franklin Drilon, meanwhile, called the rejection of the Sim Card Registration Act a "big win" for troll farms.

• Drilon: Vetoed SIM card registration bill ‘big win’ for trolls

--ANC, 19 April 2022

• Mga Pinoy hati sa pag-veto ni Duterte ng Sim Card Registration Act