*manifested on the floor to be inserted into the record

Explanation of Vote of Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto

19 September 2022

On H.B. No. 14, “An Act Requiring The Registration of Subscriber Identity Module Cards” 

Mr. Speaker, my dear colleagues: 

When I sponsored in 2015 the bill creating the DICT, I underscored the urgency to buttress our cyber defenses because “an enemy with malwares is more dangerous than one with missiles.”

As technology is diminished by obsolescence, systems which protect its integrity become obsolete, too.

“Lawfare” is an important component in our cyber defense arsenal. But to be effective, it must  be continually updated so its potency is not degraded by new technologies or by new schemes to circumvent it.

This bill is one of the needed regulatory software updates. I fully support it. I congratulate the sponsors.

But for as long as SMS technology can be monetized legitimately and illegitimately, criminals would want to be a step ahead in finding ways to scam people. 

Whether through SMS spoofing, cultivation of  SIM farms, or using grey routes to send SMS to people.

Sinister elements will never stop concocting ways of pulling off information highway robberies. As they evolve, our ways of fighting them must, too. This is permanent warfare without logouts.    

This bill alone will not end text scams. On its own, it would not stop them, but it will step up our fight, without stepping on the freedoms of our people. This ought to be a war against scammers, not against speech.

The intention of this bill is to make criminal “talk ‘n text” traceable, remove the ease by which criminals can buy SIMs anonymously, and deny lawbreakers of virtual hiding places.

But for this legislation to be properly implemented, and live up to its billing as an antidote, we have to recognize how the SMS ecosystem has quickly evolved over the past few years.    

The inconvenient truth is that the SMS ecosystem, while beneficial to civilization, has been exploited for criminal gains.  

Nung December sa Singapore, one of the countries with strict SIM registration regimen, malicious actors using SMS spoofing tools were reportedly able to make use of a hidden field within SMS called a Sender ID to mask their actual phone numbers and use an alphanumeric identifier instead. 

Many of SMS spoofing tools can be downloaded online for free. 

The global SMS business is enjoying a great revival due to business applications. It ushered in the business model where messages which originate from software enabled computers could send bulk SMS messages. 

Against this development: 

Our regulators must order Telcos to maintain SMS firewalls using the latest algorithms to detect SMS fraud and shut down grey routes. 

Our enforcers must be efficient in running after SIM farms that have now resorted to mobile mounted farms to evade being located by authorities. 

Our oversight system must be able to spot what dubious SMS have ended up comingled with the legitimate traffic originating from aggregators.

Our government must always maintain a superior defensive posture throughout to keep in step with criminals who have made a career innovating to commit digital crimes.

Rule No. 1 in a war is “Thou shall not underestimate thy enemy.” 

‘Yung mga text scammers should not be stereotyped as street thugs, the dirty contravidas lurking in some street corners, as portrayed in the celluloid world.

Mga white collar criminals po ang mga ‘yan. Hindi lang po cellphone-to-cellphone, o peer-to-peer, ang pang-ga-gantso. 

Gamit na rin ng application-to-peer, or A2P, sa kanilang raket. Gamit ang computer, bultohan ang kayang ipamudmod na mga mensahe.

Sa pagsulpot ng bagong modus, isang dapat bantayan ng mga regulators at ng mga Telcos ay kung matitino ba ang mga data middlemen called aggregators.

These aggregators have become vital players in the SMS ecosystem, and in many countries, some have reportedly been given the direct keys to the Telco gateway to facilitate SMS blasting.

In many countries, these aggregators pay the Telcos wholesale and they make money out of retailing SMS services to companies and businesses. 

May mga ulat na ang iba gumagamit ng grey routes to blast unethical SMS at a fraction of a cost or by comingling it with legitimate traffic. 

Huwag po natin papasukin ang  ganitong mga salbaheng aggregators. Mahuhusay ang pamunuan ng mga Telcos sa ating bayan kaya naniniwala akong hindi nila ito papayagan.

May kasabihan po na what has been legislated is only as good as how it is implemented. 

Sabi ko nga kanina, merong mga batas at system na kailangang ayusin.

Isang halimbawa po ay ang R.A. 10175 na nagtatayo ng Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.

Isang inter-agency body na tip of the spear laban sa cybercrimes. Ngunit may ilang miyembro na dapat ay nandun, subalit wala. 

Only four government agencies are represented in the CICC : DICT, NBI, PNP and DOJ.

No NTC when text scams are carpet-bombing this SMS capital of the world.

No BSP when banks and their depositors have been attacked with criminals who stage money heists remotely.

No DTI when fake promos have been peddled to many who are prone to virtual and viral budols.

No DOLE when we have been bombarded by text messages for ghost jobs from a SIM farm in India that was commissioned by China-based data aggregator.

No Privacy Commission to serve as a consumer advocate.

No AFP Cyber Command to update us if our national firewall is holding up from being incessantly probed for its weaknesses. 

No DOTR and DOE to share their diagnostics results if our national power grid, our railways and airport can be tripped by one bad virus.

Mabuti pa ang telcos, interconnected; ang mga ito disjointed, operating within their own sandlots.

Kaya naman ‘yung responde sa text scams, parang pinaghalong kalamay kasi walang kumukumpas. And when we put all of them in one room, they tend to form a circular firing squad.

Pero ‘yang  kahinaan sa batas ng CICC, madaling remedyohan. ‘Ika nga, you just have to vulcanize a hole, and not to replace or reinvent the wheel.

Mr. Speaker: 

I vote “Yes” to this bill. I would like to congratulate the leadership for prioritizing this measure.