SIM card woes

The mandatory subscriber identity module (SIM) registration was supposed to lapse yesterday. Instead, the deadline was extended for 90 days until July 25. This is a relief since only a little over 52 percent of the 168 million active SIM cards had been registered. I imagine the extension would also be decried by some who treat the “laggards” with disdain. The Department of Information and Communications Technology chief himself attributed the less than stellar rate of registration to Filipinos’ “bad habit of delaying to the last minute” instead of the lack of IDs.

Why do people—especially government officials—tend to attribute program or policy issues to personality flaws of our citizens?

Your basic Psychology 101 will teach you about fundamental attribution error or the tendency to attribute another’s actions to their character personality while attributing your own behavior to situations outside of your control. A classic example is when we judge someone who comes in late as “lazy” or “irresponsible” while explaining our own late behavior using traffic or other unforeseen circumstances. With program or policy implementation, it is especially important not to fall into such error as something like the mandatory SIM registration has many moving parts and factors. A thorough evaluation of program implementation should identify systemic issues and barriers, not just blame consumers or citizens for not implementing their program properly.

My own personal experience with SIM registration was straightforward and easy—only because I am a postpaid subscriber. I was not aware of how much harder it was for others: those who use prepaid, those without smartphones, those without official IDs, and those without internet access. Just because I have the privilege of an easy process shouldn’t allow me to make negative judgments of others whose process for SIM registration may not be simple. It does not take only 10 minutes for some. Since government is the one mandating this registration, they should lead with solutions to these barriers to registration instead of simply telling people to hurry up.

A commonly cited reason for not being able to register is the lack of an official ID. Even now, we are hearing news of ID shortages for driver’s licenses. My Philippine National ID, which I’ve registered over a year ago, still has not arrived. The whole premise behind the national ID was the recognition that a significant number of Filipinos do not have access to an official ID. In terms of timing, they should have solved the national ID problem before doing mandatory SIM registration.

Another reason cited was lack of internet access. Given the headaches we faced in implementing online education during the pandemic, this should come as no surprise. Registration requires internet access. There should’ve been offline options in recognition of this problem. Better yet, we should’ve attempted to solve the internet access issue by offering barangay-level computer centers where citizens can access governmental online services for free, since some do not necessarily have a smartphone or a computer device.

A less material reason but something not to be ignored is people’s low trust in government handling of our private information. When the SIM Registration Act was first proposed, data privacy and security experts expressed wariness and caution given the government’s track record regarding safeguarding our information. As a lay person, I remember receiving a deluge of scam texts after having to disclose my phone number in numerous establishments during the pandemic’s contact tracing period. Just a few days ago, a massive data leak was exposed from the recruitment portal of the Philippine National Police. It was also only two days ago that the Supreme Court junked a petition to issue a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the act. It would have been prudent to wait for the Supreme Court’s decision lest you inadvertently give your private information for nothing. Government should regain our trust and proactively demonstrate that they are taking utmost care of our private information by investing in cybersecurity instead of being simply reactionary to data leaks and breaches.