President Ferdinand Romoldz Marcos signed a legal document on the 10th, requiring mobile phone users to register personal information when purchasing SIM cards. The bill to purchase SIM cards with real names was passed in September by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress and was officially signed into a regulation by Marcos. "We will finally achieve what is long overdue... with effective means to regulate SIM card issuance and curb the spread of spam and fraudulent messages," Marcos said in his speech.
In the Philippines, many mobile phone users use prepaid SIM cards and do not need to provide personal information such as names when purchasing a card. The new regulation requires users to provide their full names and identification documents to operators before purchasing a SIM card to prevent criminals from concealing their identities.
