EXECUTIVE Secretary Lucas Bersamin yesterday said there is a “very distinct possibility” that the SIM Card registration measure will be signed into law by President Marcos Jr.
Bersamin also said it is “very probable” and “most likely” that the bill postponing the conduct of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will also be signed into a law.
Bersamin, in an interview with a group from the Malacanang Press Corps, said they are not reviewing or studying any current pending laws for the purpose of a veto.
Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Hubert Dominic Guevarra, however, stressed they do not want to preempt the decision of the President.
Asked again if it is possible both measures will be signed into law, both officials said “probable.”
Bersamin said that in signing a bill into law, it is presumed that it was passed, and later to be submitted to the President for signature, by Congress and was done in good faith and that “the probability is high that the President will agree with them.”
He said that while there have been vetoed bills in the past, it is still very seldom that a President vetoes a passed measure.
Leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives officially transmitted yesterday to Malacanang the enrolled copies of the bills on SIM registration and postponement of the 2022 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections for the approval and signature of the President.
Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri signed the enrolled bills on the mandatory registration of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards and the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections before the measures are transmitted to Malacañang for President Marcos Jr.’s signature.
Copies of the enrolled bills were forwarded to Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Sec. Mark Mendoza, who will turn them over to the President for signing into law, which Zubiri said is expected this Thursday.
An enrolled bill is the printed final copy of the approved measure, certified correct by House Secretary General Reginald “Reggie” Velasco and Senate Secretary Renato N. Bantug Jr.
Romualdez is the principal author of the House version of the SIM Registration Act under House Bill No. 14, which was approved on final reading last September 19.
The first two enrolled measures — the SIM Registration Act and the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections Postponement Act — were approved by the bicameral conference committee and ratified by the Senate before Congress went on break.
Witnessing the signing of the bills at the Manila Golf Club in Makati City were Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva and Senators Grace Poe, Imee Marcos, and Joseph Victor Ejercito, House majority leader Mannix Dalipe, and Reps. Toby Tiangco and Yoyette Ferrer.
“Hopefully these first enrolled bills will now turn into our first two laws. Nakabuo na tayo ng maganda at (We have created a good and) effective working relationship with the House, and if our bicameral sessions for these two bills are anything to go by, then I think we can all expect to have a very active and productive 19th Congress,” Zubiri said.
A similar version of the SIM Registration Act was passed by both Houses during the 18th Congress but was vetoed by former President Duterte due to the inclusion of a provision mandating the registration of social media accounts.
Under the measure, end-users are required to register their SIMs with the concerned Public Telecommunication Entity (PTE) as a pre-requisite to activation. Existing SIM subscribers are also required to register with their respective PTEs within 180 days from the effectivity of the law.
Failure to register the SIM within the prescribed period will result in automatic deactivation and may only be reactivated after it is registered in compliance with the requirements of the law.
Certain acts such as failure or refusal to register a SIM, breach of confidentiality, using fictitious identities or fraudulent identification documents to register a SIM, spoofing a registered SIM, sale of stolen SIM, and sale or transfer of a registered SIM without complying with required registration, are penalized with varying amounts of fine or duration of imprisonment.
Zubiri is confident the bill will be passed into law.
“I am confident that the administration sees the urgent need for this bill. We have also addressed the concerns regarding social media registration raised in the previous veto, so umaasa tayong wala nang magiging problema (we are hopeful that there will be no more problems),” Zubiri said.
The postponement of barangay and SK elections was also ratified by the bicameral conference to give lawmakers ample time to fix the flaws in the barangay and SK systems. The barangay and SK elections are set this December but lawmakers recommended that it be moved on the last Monday of October 2023, with elections held every three years thereafter. — With Wendell Vigilia and Raymond Africa
