MANILA, Philippines — The National Telecommunications Commission said Wednesday it did not give permission for telcos to use emergency alerts to remind their users to register their SIMs.
"We didn't give any clearance on that platform for the telco to issue that type of alert," NTC Deputy Commissioner Jon Paulo Salvahan told CNN Philippines’ "The Source."
Globe Telecom Inc. previously said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council did not oppose their move to use emergency alerts for SIM registration reminders, which some of their subscribers found to be obnoxious.
Salvahan said they are now discussing the incident within the NTC as they await recommendations from their technical team.
Republic Act No. 10639, or the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act, mandates telcos to send out alerts to their subscribers if man-made or natural disasters strike.
Section 4 of the law states: "In the event of an impending tropical storm, typhoon, tsunami, or other calamities, mobile phone service providers are mandated to send out alerts at regular intervals."
Former Rep. Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna party-list), who authored the disaster alerts law, said using emergency alerts for SIM registration reminders was "alarmist causing undue stress on the public."
"The SIM card registration is an invasion of privacy and the alert warning for this is not the disaster I envisioned when I authored the bill," Colmenares said.
He added, "We ask government to refrain from using the mobile disaster alert law for non-disaster instances and reserve it for actual disasters which the public needs to be aware of." — Xave Gregorio with a report from Cristina Chi