MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has vetoed the bill requiring SIM cards and social media accounts to be registered over concerns that this will “give rise to a situation of dangerous state intrusion and surveillance.”
Acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said Friday in a statement that Duterte rejected the measure over the inclusion of social media in the measure, “without providing proper guidelines and definitions thereto.”
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The provision requiring social media networks to compel their users to provide their real name and phone numbers when creating accounts was inserted by lawmakers during the bicameral conference meetings on the bill and was not included in earlier versions of it.
The measure also penalizes people who use fictitious identities to register for social media accounts with a fine of up to P200,000, jail time of at least six years or both.
Lawmakers passed the measure in an attempt to address terrorism, text scams, bank fraud and defamation online, but internet freedom advocates said this bill will violate Filipinos’ right to privacy.
“It is incumbent upon the Office of the President to ensure that any statute is consistent with the demands of the Constitution, such as those which guarantee individual privacy and free speech,” Andanar said.
Despite Duterte's rejection of the bill, Andanar encouraged Congress to continue legislating measures aimed at creating a safer and more secure online environment as long as these stand judicial scrutiny.
Internet freedom and ICT rights advocacy group Democracy.Net.PH sent a petition signed by more than 61,000 individuals and groups to Duterte urging him to veto the bill.
"The bill is overly vague. It fails to provide a legal definition of 'social media' … The bill treats as crimes certain actions, such as 'trolling', 'hate speech', and 'spread of digital disinformation or fake news,' despite there being no basis to penalize these under existing Philippine penal laws," said Democracy.Net.PH director for rights Carlos Nazareno in a letter to Duterte.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, who introduced the social media registration provision in the bill, has defended the measure, saying in a February 7 statement that “trolls thrive in anonymity.”
Findings from global non-profit Privacy International show that mandatory SIM card registration policies adopted by several countries including Canada, Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Ireland were "ineffective and inefficient."
Mexico also had a compulsory SIM card registration policy in 2009, but repealed it three years later after it was discovered to be "ineffective." — with reports from Angelica Y. Yang