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MORE than 50 million subscribers stand to permanently lose access to their subscriber identity modules (SIMs) after the five-day grace period from the SIM registration deadline in relation to Republic Act (RA) 11934 or SIM Registration Law, which was on July 25, 2023.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) reported that as of Monday, July 24, 105,917,844 SIMs had been registered. This accounted for 63 percent of the 168,016,400 subscribers from Globe Telecom, Smart Communications and Dito Telecommunity that the NTC recorded by the end of December 2022.

The National Government had set July 25 as the final deadline for SIM registration, with a five-day grace period until July 30 for users to register their unregistered SIMs.

After July 30, unregistered SIMs will be permanently deactivated, also called “SIM dead,” and subscribers can no longer avail themselves of mobile services such as voice calls, text messaging and data surfing.

Only 50-75 percent

Smart reported that as of July 24, 49.9 million or 75 percent of its 66.3 million subscribers have already registered their SIMs.

As for Globe, 48.9 million or 56 percent of its 86.7 million subscribers have also registered theirs, as of July 25.

Out of its 14.9 million subscribers, Dito reported that 50 percent of the subscribers or 7.5 million had registered their SIMs, as of July 24.

NTC Central Visayas legal officer Alan Felix Macaraya Jr. said on Monday that the authorities were targeting to register at least 75-80 percent of the total number of subscribers, as the remaining percentage will be considered excess/inactive subscribers or mobile numbers possibly used by people involved in criminal activities.

Last extension

He said there can be no other extension, as the law specifically provided that there be only one extension granted for SIM registration.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the “first and last” extension of SIM registration on April 26, which was supposed to be the deadline. Under the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 11934, users of deactivated SIMs will have a grace period of five days to register their SIMs.

“Failure to register the existing SIM within the period prescribed shall result in the automatic deactivation of the SIM. The deactivated SIM may only be reactivated after registration; provided, however, that reactivation shall be made not later than five days after such automatic deactivation,” the IRR stated.

To register their SIMs, users must visit the official link provided by their telecommunication provider, and input and submit the necessary information and identification cards.

Grace period

Marylou Gocotano, Visayas relations head of PLDT and Smart Communications, and Rofil Magto, corporate communications manager of Globe for the Visayas and Mindanao, told SunStar Cebu on Wednesday, July 26, that the current number of registered SIMs might increase following the five-day grace period.

A day after July 25, telco firms disabled some mobile services, such as outgoing calls and text messaging, from unregistered SIM cards.

This means that users of unregistered SIM cards can still receive incoming calls and text messages, but they can no longer initiate outgoing voice calls or send text messages within the grace period, unless they are registered on or before July 30.

Both Gocotano and Magto said that after July 30, all unregistered SIMs will be automatically and permanently deactivated, and neither the subscribers nor the telco providers can revive or reactivate the deactivated SIMs.

All unregistered SIMs will be considered “SIM dead” or invalid.

E-wallet, prepaid load

Gocotano and Magto assured the public that even though their SIMs will be deactivated after the grace period, the funds inside their e-wallets such as GCash and Maya accounts linked to the deactivated mobile number will be left untouched.

“If their number is connected with their GCash account or e-wallet, the amount will still be there; the amount will still be intact,” Magto said.

To access these funds again, Gocotano and Magto said that it will not be inconvenient for the users of the deactivated SIM cards.

These users must purchase a new SIM card and register it under their names, after which they have to contact the e-wallet hotline to link their funds to their new SIMs.

They will be asked to submit proof of identification to validate their ownership of the e-wallet account, which Gocotano and Magto said may take time and cause inconvenience to the user.

In the case of postpaid SIM card users, both telco officials said they had already been registered since the necessary information and identification were collected prior to the application of a postpaid account.

As for prepaid load, users of deactivated SIMs can no longer enjoy their unused promos.

Reservations

Some subscribers still have reservations about the security aspect of the registration and the convenience of the registration process.

According to Faith Cabusas, a Smart SIM user, the unstable connection was a major hindrance when she tried to register her SIM.

Globe SIM user Harvie Barcelona chose not to register his SIM cards because the process was tedious. Sun SIM card user Meryle Abella said she cannot register her SIM card for unknown reasons. However, after the deadline, she could still access her mobile data.

As for Joseph Christian Lapidez, a Globe SIM user, he could still use his SIM, but he said the signal was weak.

RA 11934 was signed into law by Marcos on October 10, 2022. The law aims to curb cybercriminal activities such as “smishing” or text scams.

Smishing is the act of sending deceptive text messages to lure victims into revealing their sensitive data like their bank account information.

Franchesa Nojo, a Smart SIM user, found that the law is good for added security for her sensitive information.

“My phone number is linked to all of my social media and bank accounts. Knowing that I already registered my SIM, I am less worried about the scams that are happening since my security has gotten stronger,” she said.

After registering her SIM card, she has not received phishing phone calls and text messages as she did before.

“I used to receive suspicious texts, but it got less nowadays,” she said. (EHP, CNU INTERNS ERICA ABELLA AND HAZEL FAITH SAYMO)

CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama has vetoed an ordinance designating the downtown area as a heritage district and creating the Heritage District Council (HDC), stating that he wants to lead the HDC or have his authorized representative do so.

In a letter to the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) dated June 15, 2023, the local chief executive returned the unsigned measure as he wants an amendment to Section 7 of City Ordinance 2690, or “An Ordinance Designating the Downtown Area of the City of Cebu as a Heritage District and Creating Heritage District Council,” which was authored by Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia.

Section 7 states that the HDC “shall be headed by City Mayor/City Vice Mayor. There shall be two vice-chairs: the Chair of the Committee on Tourism, Culture, and Arts of the Sanggunian, and a private-sector representative to be appointed by the City Mayor.”

Rama suggested that Section 7 “be amended and read as follows: ‘The Council shall be headed by the City Mayor or his authorized representative,’ in order to respect the prerogatives of the Chief Executive.”

Garcia said in an interview with SunStar Cebu on Wednesday, July 26, that the SP agreed with Rama’s suggestion, and they have no issue with the mayor’s veto.

“Everything is okay,” he said.

The ordinance, passed on May 24, 2023, aims to conserve and protect the cultural heritage of Cebu City’s downtown area where old buildings dating as far back as the Spanish colonial period are still standing.

Rama’s letter to the SP states that the mayor should be granted “wide latitude of choice and discretion” in appointing an authorized representative who is fit and qualified for the position.

The proposed heritage district covers the intersection of V. Rama Avenue and N. Bacalso Avenue, proceeding to P. Del Rosario Street, then to Imus Street, and to the intersection of General Maxilom Avenue and Tejero Creek until the Cebu Port Authority in Pier 6.

From Pier 6, it will continue toward the shorelines of Barangay Sto. Niño and Quezon Boulevard.

It will also cover Abellana Street and the intersections of Gen. Gines Street, R. Magsaysay Street, and JM Basa Street, before returning to the starting point of V. Rama-N. Bacalso intersection. (RJM)

A WAGE increase will be implemented in Central Visayas come September, the wage and productivity board chairperson has announced, but a labor group leader insists that it must be pushed sooner since it is already long overdue.

Lilia Estillore, chairperson of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Central Visayas (RTWPB 7), made the promise in an interview after the second wage public hearing happened Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at the Department of Education EcoTech Center in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

“There is no doubt that there will be an increase because even the representatives from the business sector acknowledged that there should be a wage hike implemented in the region,” she said.

Estillore, also the director of the Department of Labor and Employment in the region (Dole 7), however, said the board still has to deliberate on the amount.

More hearings

The board is still on its second of five consultations set in different areas of the region to hear the grievances, opinions and suggestions of the employer and employee sectors on the amount of the wage hike.

The wage public hearing started last July 10 in Bogo City in northern Cebu, followed by the hearing in Cebu City Wednesday. Three more hearings will be conducted: City of Naga in southern Cebu, August 1; Bohol, August 10; and Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental, August 11.

The RTWPB 7 is composed of Estillore, the chairperson; regional directors Maria Elena Arbon of the Department of Trade and Industry and Jennifer Bretaña of the National Economic and Development Authority; members from the labor sector represented by Antonio Cuizon and Nora Analyn Diego; and Joseph Tanco and Dr. Philip Tan as the management representatives.

The last daily wage increase implemented in the region was the P31 for all private sector workers and P500 monthly increase for domestic workers, which took effect on June 14, 2022.

Current wage

In Central Visayas, the current daily minimum wage for non-agricultural workers in Class A towns and cities is P435, while non-agricultural employers with less than 10 workers and the employers in the agricultural industry pay employees P425.

Class A cities include Carcar, Cebu, Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Naga, Talisay; and Class A municipalities are Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla, San Fernando or the Expanded Metro Cebu.

For Class B, the minimum wage is P397 for non-agricultural and P392 for the other classification. In Class C areas, wage is at P387 for non-agricultural workers and P382 for agricultural and non-agricultural companies with less than 10 workers.

Class B are the other cities not covered under Class A, while Class C are municipalities not under Class A and Class B.

Two petitions

The wage public hearing will also tackle the two joint petitions for wage hike in the region filed by 20 Cebu-based labor groups and unions with the RTWPB 7 in the past months.

There is a petition for a P100 increase in the daily minimum wage led by Partido Manggagawa-Cebu (PM Cebu), and a petition filed by Cebu Labor Coalition that demands a P292.50 hike in the daily minimum wage among private workers and P1,000 hike for the monthly pay of domestic helpers or “katabang” in Cebuano.

In filing the petitions, PM Cebu was joined by 12 other labor groups: Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo-Kilusang Mayo Uno (AMA Sugbo-KMU), Alyansa sa Mamumuong Kontraktwal sa Sugbo, Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa, Globalwear Employees Union-Piglas, Association of Globalwear Supervisory Employees Union–Piglas, Mepz Workers Alliance, Workers Organization of Lami Food, Prince Warehouse Club Mandaue Employees Union–Law, Ilaw–Buklod ng Manggagawa-United Miners of Carmen Copper, Kepco Cebu Employees Union-Workers Solidarity Network, Ilaw at Buklod ng Manggagawa sa General Milling Corp. and Bohol Alliance of Labor Organizations.

Seven other groups signed the petition filed by Metudio Belarmino of the Cebu Labor Coalition: Alvin Pino, president of Lonbisco Employees Organization; Melchor Atupan, president of Metaphil Workers Union; Nicholou Malazarte, president of Union Bank Employees Association; Paul Alvin Fajardo, representative of CELAC; Clarisa Torino, president of United Domestic Workers of the Philippines; Bonifacio Tiongzon, president of Transasia Union; and Alan Gascon, director of the board of the Cebu City Tripartite Industrial Peace Council.

Struggles

During the public hearing, some employers said some companies are struggling to survive post-pandemic amid the looming global recession.

Catherine Son-Lauzon, a representative of a furniture manufacturer, said “we cannot afford” a P100 wage hike. She suggested a P40 or P50 wage hike instead.

She said although they can apply for an exemption from the wage hike, she is afraid that their employees will seek better-paying jobs, which she said is the tendency of Gen Z employees in the workforce.

Gen Z is the generation born between 1997 and 2012.

According to the National Wages and Productivity Commission, companies allowed to seek exemption are those engaged in retail and service businesses that employ not more than 10 workers, as well as establishments adversely affected by natural calamities or human-induced disasters.

Patrick Tolentino, a representative of a construction company, said though there are times that the operating costs in their industry are quite high, he believed that it was about time a wage hike was given to the workers in the region.

Long overdue

Jaime Paglinawan of AMA Sugbo-KMU said the wage hike must be implemented very soon or earlier than September.

Paglinawan pointed to a news article published by SunStar Cebu last April 28, which reported figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority in Central Visayas showing the steady growth of the economy in the region, as proof that businesses have the capacity to give a wage hike.

The Gross Regional Domestic Product was P1.135 trillion in 2020, growing to P1.196 trillion in 2021, then to P1.287 trillion in 2022.

The labor leader explained that in a family of five, with the minimum wage stuck at P435, each member would have only P87 per day or P29 per meal to survive on, leaving nothing for other expenses such as electricity, water, rent, transportation and deductions for social benefits.

Citing data from Ibon Foundation, Paglinawan told SunStar Cebu last June 15 that the living wage required for a family of five to live comfortably is P1,160 or a monthly wage of P25,226.

The living wage is the minimum income required for a family of five to sustain their daily needs.

Paglinawan also slammed the wage board in the region for the delay in conducting the wage public hearing, saying that recently, workers in Metro Manila had a P40 increase in their daily wage “from their already higher daily wage at P570.”

Estillore said the reason for the delay is that unlike Metro Manila, Central Visayas is an archipelagic region, meaning the four provinces are far from each other.

Other concerns

Ariel Sarsaba, chairperson of the National Union of Food Delivery Riders in Cebu, raised his concerns on his sector.

He demanded that the board implement standardized benefits and insurance for all food delivery riders, saying his job had been among the economic drivers since the Covid-19 pandemic started.

He said while some companies offer these to their employed food delivery riders, others do not.

Estillore said they still need to study the framework of the job of food delivery riders since it is still a new concept to them.

THE Commission on Audit (COA) has discovered “several deficiencies” in Lapu-Lapu City Government’s procurement of services for the disposal of its residual waste amounting to P86.9 million from a joint venture initiative with two contractors whose primary business purpose “appeared to be freight forwarding services and furniture manufacturing.”

In its 2022 Audit Report, COA identified ALS and HMME Inc. as the two contractors involved in the procurement, and said various documents and permits to determine the technical eligibility of these contractors were also not submitted or attached to the disbursement voucher.

The state auditors also questioned the computed number of tons of waste done through a manual preparation of the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) Weighing Scale Trip Ticket as well as the lack of the weigh bridge calibration certificate of the manufacturer and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) validation certificate.

The City Government entered into a contract with ALS and HMME Inc., on September 3, 2021 to November 30, 2022 for its solid waste disposal and management system worth P86,985,133.08.

The agreement covered 64,462 tons of the city’s residual waste with a unit price of P1,348 per ton, COA reported.

Primary business

However, COA found out that the primary line of business of ALS was freight forwarding while that of HMME Inc. was the manufacture and repair of furniture and fixtures of metal based on their Certificate of Registration certified by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

The audit team also questioned the non-submission or -attachment of seven documents to the disbursement voucher: the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Lapu-Lapu City Government and the joint venture contractor, ALS’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Certificate of Registration, a copy of the Certificate of Non-Coverage (CNC) or Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), and clearance or permits from the other local government units (LGUs) that may be affected in the transport of solid waste to the sanitary landfill.

Also missing were environment-related permits such as the Permit to Operate pursuant to the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, Discharge Permit pursuant to the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, Hazardous Waste Generator ID pursuant to the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990; and Solid Waste Management pursuant to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

COA also flagged the absence of the proof of ownership or purchase of five to 10 dump trucks and proof of ownership or rent of one backhoe with ready standby unit.

With the non-attachment of these permits and documents, COA said it could not validate the qualifications of the awarded bidder.

Manual preparation

The state auditors flagged the absence of machine-generated receipts that determine the actual weight of the garbage or hauling equipment, as the Trip Summary Report was manually prepared by the City’s MRF personnel.

Without these machine-generated receipts, COA said the information and resulting billed amount in the reports was “uncertain.”

The tonnage was computed through the deduction of gross weight (before loading) of the garbage truck from its Tare weight or the weight when it was empty.

“Since the payment is based on the number of tonnages, the credibility of the cargo weights figure -- in terms of sources and calculation should be based on the most reliable and evidenced-based information; otherwise, the resulting sum shall be highly questionable,” COA reported.

The audit team recommended to the City Government the submission through the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the lacking documentation and also to explain why the project was awarded to the joint venture of ALS and HMME Inc. despite the absence of the required documents “that would have entailed disqualification of the contractors to the project.”

Reply

In its reply to COA, the Lapu-Lapu City Government assured that the mentioned contractors were eligible and they they abide by the guidelines of the procurement law.

It added that it had already submitted the documentary requirements such as the MOA, Department of Trade and Industry Certificate of Registration of ALS, the Disposal Waste Agreement between ALS-hauler and AEC-owner and operator of a sanitary landfill, the ECC of AEC, and other permits.

The City Government was also not capable of generating machine-generated receipts for the weigh bridge, hence only trip tickets were issued as proof and used as bases for payment.

It vowed to submit the weigh bridge calibration certification from the manufacturer and the DOST validation certificate.

Rejoinder

COA reminded the Lapu-Lapu LGU that under Government Procurement Policy Board Non-Policy Matter Opinion 126-2016, it is the BAC’s duty to determine the eligibility of the supplier or bidder in government projects, particularly by scrutinizing the supplier’s Mayor’s Permit and BIR Certificate of Registration to see if these authorize it to engage in the business required by the procurement “such that a finding to the contrary would amount to non-compliance by the bidder and will result to its disqualification.”

“Ideally, it is the BAC that plays a crucial role in determining whether a certain supplier can participate in the procurement through the eligibility check. However, in this aspect, the BAC failed to undertake this responsibility,” COA said.

COA will subject the submitted documents to further verification, it added. (EHP)

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NIAMEY -- Niger's presidential guard imposed a blockade on the presidency since 10 p.m., local time, Tuesday, a presidency staff told Xinhua Wednesday.

"Since yesterday, no one has left; no one has returned to the presidency. At the moment, nobody knows where President Mohamed Bazoum is," said the same source, who was not identified. (Niger-Blockade)

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KABUL -- Rainstorms and flash floods hav

Malacañang hopes the funding sources for the proposed reforms in military and uniformed personnel pension may be resolved “within the coming months.”

Sen. Grace Poe on Wednesday urged law enforcers to pursue and file charges against mobile phone scammers after the SIM card registration deadline on July 25.

The Department of Agriculture is expecting retail prices of vegetables to rise due to the impact of Typhoon Egay.

Investments by the government helped in improving the country’s tourism industry in the past year, with more expected soon, reported the Department of Tourism.

While he may be in favor of bringing back the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps for senior high school or college students, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro believes that not all of the country’s youth can be trained and taken in as reservist soldiers.

The Commission on Higher Education on July 26 released the list of 52 Philippine higher education institutions that President Marcos referred to in his State of the Nation Address as belonging to “world universities rankings.”

Super Typhoon Egay roared across Northern Luzon and other parts of the country yesterday, leaving at least two dead and several injured as well as displacing up to 180,400 people or 44,356 families now mostly staying in evacuation centers.

President Marcos lauded members of the Philippine Women’s National Football Team for their historic victory over co-host New Zealand during the FIFA Women’s World Cup on Tuesday.

The Commission on Elections yesterday disputed the allegations of former information and technology secretary Eliseo Rio that the results of the May 2022 presidential elections were rigged and illegally came from just one private IP address.