Just as the DICT has rejected calls to extend SIM Registration beyond the April 26 deadline, the Senate also backs DICT’s decision to implement a strict deadline.

Asked by members of the media on April 24, senators Kiko Pimentel and Sherwin Gatchalian do agree with the DICT that there’s no need to extend the deadline for SIM Registration beyond April 26. “No need to extend. The object of the law is really to find out which SIM [cards] are not being used for serious, legal, or important purposes. [So] if only 44 percent are worth keeping active then, so be it,” Pimentel told reporters in a message.

Gatchalian also agrees with Pimentel’s remark, adding that the number of enrolled SIM cards will never reach 100%. His explanation is that while there are 110 million prepaid SIMs in the Philippines, the country’s population is only 109 million–and this means that a number of people do own multiple SIM cards. “It is natural that the number of prepaid SIM cards will go down because people are already foregoing ownership of multiple prepaid SIM cards,” Gatchalian said in a message.

It is not only Gatchalian and Pimentel that think there’s no need to extend SIM registration, as fellow Senate member Grace Poe also argued against the telcos appeal for an extension–and despite all the challenges telcos faced during the SIM registration process.

While this means that SIM cards not registered after April 26 will be deactivated, the law has a provision where users have five days to reactivate them.