Movie actor-turned politician Richard Gomez on Tuesday cautioned the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for tasking local governments in the information dissemination campaign on the mandatory registration of SIM cards.
Gomez, who was a two-term mayor of Ormoc City, reminded the DILG that the primary mover of the implementation of Republic Act 11934 or the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act is the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) and the telcos.
“It is the responsibility of the DICT and the telecommunication companies to implement the registration of SIM cards, including informing the public the WHYs and the DOs,” Gomez said in a statement.
“Why give the burden of letting the public know about the pros and cons of the measures, and the registration methods, to the LGUs when these already have so much task at hand?” he said.
“The telcos should not burden the LGUs since they are the ones which earn hundreds of millions of pesos a day from mobile phone users, they are much richer than most LGUs. They should take care of their own business and their own problems because their profit are all theirs to keep and enjoy,” Gomez added.
The DILG on Monday said the LGUs are responsible for letting their constituents know about the need to register their SIM cards and where they can avail of the registration services.
But local government units, the lawmaker said, already have a lot in their plates especially amid the continued threat of the coronavirus disease, the onslaught of natural calamities such as typhoons and earthquakes, and implementing local peace and order policies as the country celebrates the holidays under a less restrictive mobility policy.
He added that telecommunication firms can easily tap their distributors and thousands of retail stores to do the registration where they sell their SIM cards.
