MANILA: Internet security watchdog Scam Watch Pilipinas has renewed calls to limit the number of registered subscriber identity modules (SIMs) per person as part of a bid to fight online scams.
“In terms of legislation [as part of efforts to combat online scams], the first thing to do is to fix the holes in the SIM Registration Law,” Scam Watch Pilipinas founder Jocel De Guzman said mostly in Filipino during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum on Wednesday (June 25).
“A person can register an unlimited number of SIM cards under his name. That’s the first thing. The people being arrested by General Yang, one person can have 600 registered SIMs,” he added.
De Guzman was referring to Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP ACG) Director Brig. Gen. Bernard Yang.
Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop said that choosing not to pursue the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte would convey the wrong message—that justice is selective and only applies to the poor and powerless.
Signed into law in 2022, Republic Act 11934 to the SIM Registration Act required Filipinos to register their SIM cards in an effort to reduce cyber crimes.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) previously proposed allowing only three or four registered SIMs per person.
However, De Guzman proposed a limit of 10 registered SIMs per person to give leeway for businesses and to allow parents to give SIMs to their children, if they are minors.
At the same forum, Yang said the PNP ACG arrested 608 individuals from December 2024 to June 20, 2025 for various cyber crimes, including selling pre-registered SIM cards, a violation of RA 11934.
Also at the forum, tech firm Gogolook Philippines reported that its content checker application detected around 7,200 scams and nearly 2,900 potential scams out of over 20,800 reports of suspicious content online from March to mid-June this year.
Following the enactment of the law, the DICT warned that new scams were developing, such as people selling pre-registered cards and charging a fee to get users registered. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
