SIM CARD BILL. Senate President Vicente Sotto III answers media queries in a press conference before a ceremony commemorating the 145th birth anniversary of his grandfather and namesake, the late Senator Vicente Sotto at the Cebu City Library and Museum on Monday (April 18, 2022). Sotto suggested two ways to save the prepaid SIM card registration bill – to overturn the veto or refile it in the next Congress. (PNA photo by John Rey Saavedra)
CEBU CITY – Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday said he will make a last-ditch effort to save the prepaid SIM Card registration bill under the consolidated version of Senate Bill No. 2395 and House Bill No. 5793 vetoed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a press conference with the media at the Cebu City Library and Museum, Sotto said he was about to call Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to save the bill by overturning it through the votes by both Houses of Congress.
He said the Executive Branch may question the unwanted provisions on social media before the Supreme Court.
“I will tell him that the way to go about this is that the Houses of Congress overturn the veto of the President, and then the provisions that he dislikes can be questioned in the Supreme Court. And we can ask the SC to declare (it) unconstitutional. But then again the prepaid SIM cards registration must be registered already. Because the part of the law that will become a law, minus the provisions that the President does not want,” he said.
The 1987 Constitution allows Congress to override the presidential veto through 2/3 votes of the members of each chamber, which means the Senate and the House voting separately.
Sotto said overturning Duterte’s veto can be done on May 23 but the measure can be refiled in the next Congress.
Acting presidential spokesperson Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte vetoed the measure because the inclusion of social media providers in the registration was not part of the original version of the bill and needed a more thorough study.
“The important thing about the bill is that prepaid SIM card registration is very vital to be able to stop bombings, blackmail, scams,” he said.
He noted that 90 percent of bombings not only in the Philippines but also around the world used unregistered prepaid SIM cards inserted in a trigger cellphone.
He said the Philippines is one of a few countries in the world that does not mandate the registration of prepaid SIM cards while other governments require a password, and national identification card, among others before an individual can secure a prepaid SIM card.
Sotto said the original bill he and Senator Panfilo Lacson filed did not contain the provisions vetoed by Duterte.
He, however, said it is not true that the provisions requiring the use of real names when creating social media accounts were not inserted.
He added that they were in the minutes of their sessions and the discussions during the Bicameral committee meeting before the bill was transmitted to Malacañang for the President’s signature.
Sotto visited the city for the celebration of the 145th birth anniversary of his grandfather and namesake, the late Senator Vicente Yap Sotto, who is known as the father of Cebuano language and literature. (PNA)
