The consensus among senators to immediately act to stop the rampant text scam has triggered Senator Bato Dela Rosa to push anew for a Senate inquiry into the alarming rise of text fraud.
In a manifestation on Monday, Dela Rosa threw his support to the call of Senator Jinggoy Estrada and other senators to stop the rampant text scam.
Dela Rosa said aside from using unregistered prepaid SIM cards in furtherance of their terroristic activities, criminal elements also use them to take the hard-earned money of the people.
“For the information of the body, I have filed Senate Resolution No. 69 on July 27, 2022, calling to investigate, in aid of legislation, the alarming rising number of text scams. This is in connection with one of my priority legislations for this Congress, Senate Bill No. 429 or the SIM Card Registration Act, which I filed on July 12, 2022,” Dela Rosa said.
The former police chief recalled that in his co-sponsorship speech of the SIM Card bill in the last Congress, he mentioned instances of bombings triggered by prepaid SIM cards.
“To reiterate, on 27 January 2019, security footage of a bombing shows one of the bombers holding a mobile phone that was used to trigger bomb blasts that targeted two churches in the south. On 04 September 2016, a blast in Davao City used a mobile phone to trigger an improvised explosive device detonation, and on 26 January 2011, five people were killed in Manila when a mortar ammunition triggered by a cellphone was detonated in a bus,” he said.
Dela Rosa said aside from using unregistered prepaid SIM cards in furtherance of their terroristic activities, criminal elements also use them to take the hard-earned money of the people.
There are already 157 countries mandating the registration of SIM cards, based on the data from Privacy International.
“Kahit noong kasagsagan ng pandemya, hindi tumigil ang mga kawatan. Ang nakatatakot pa rito ay wala tayong kaalam-alam kung sino itong mga text scammer na ito. Nakababahalang tila nakuha nila ang mga pangalan ng mga nagmamayari ng mobile number ng kanilang tine-text,” he said.
There are already 157 countries mandating the registration of SIM cards, based on the data from Privacy International.
“Wala silang pinipili, walang pakialam, at higit sa lahat ay wala silang takot. Kung kaya, hinihikayat ko ang ating mga kasamahan sa Senado na bigyang pansin muli ang walang habas at walang patumanggang pangbu-budol sa ating mga kababayan,” Dela Rosa said.
“Sa pangunguna ng ating mahusay na tagapangulo ng Komite ng Public Services na si Senator Grace Poe, naniniwala ako na bago matapos ang taon na ito ay mabibilang na ang ating bansa sa nasabing datos. Protektahan po natin ang ating mga kababayan sa loob at labas ng cyberworld,” Dela Rosa continued.
