By Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera, Deputy Minority Leader
I support the DICT decision not to extend the SIM registration deadline. That will force all of the signup holdouts to wake up to the reality that they must register now or expect their unregistered SIMs to be deactivated.
There is a long weekend — from April 21 to 23 because of the Eidl Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan. Unregistered SIM subscribers should make time during the Ramadan holiday weekend to register their SIMs.
Given the DICT decision, which is entirely within their discretion to exercise, the unregistered SIM subscribers should accept the reality of the April 26 deadline.
I do not expect the DICT to reverse its decision. I believe DICT has its reasons they expect the remaining unregistered will only be those who do not meet the deadline.
I advise the telcos to cancel all the holidays and leaves of their customer service personnel. They should be all hands on deck and make extra effort to serve the registrants at their branches, service outlets and service kiosks in the coming days.
The telcos should not be surprised by the surge in registrants, but they should also make sure the scammers and spammers are not among those who will register in the last few days to take advantage of the rush so their illegal operations could slip through the cracks or go with the flow of the registration surge.