Cellphone owners told to register with NTC
By Joyce Pangco Pañares -- Manila Standard Today
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has approved the creation of a Cellphone Registration System that will require all SIM card owners to register their phone numbers with the National Telecommunications Commission.
The President appointed Deputy National Security Adviser Virtus Gil head of a task force that would not only implement CPRS but also go after cellphone thefts in the country.
“I have instructed him to form a task force with police and operational powers to curb the incidents of cellphone snatching, which have become prevalent and deadly,” Mrs. Arroyo said.
Gil’s proposal for the setting up of CPRS was brought up during the Export Development Council meeting at the Palace Tuesday.
The proposal was first brought up after the Sept. 11, 2001 bombings in New York after military intelligence report confirmed that cellphones are being used by terrorists to activate homemade bombs.
But several lawmakers and non-government organizations, strongly opposed the proposal, citing possible violations of human rights such as wiretapping and invasion of privacy.
But Gil maintained that the CPRS “would be useful in preventing cellphone-based scams and use of cellphones for coordination of kidnap-for-ransom and terrorists activities.”
Gil, a former police general, also heads Task Force Aurora which President Arroyo created last year to streamline frontline services.
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has approved the creation of a Cellphone Registration System that will require all SIM card owners to register their phone numbers with the National Telecommunications Commission.
The President appointed Deputy National Security Adviser Virtus Gil head of a task force that would not only implement CPRS but also go after cellphone thefts in the country.
“I have instructed him to form a task force with police and operational powers to curb the incidents of cellphone snatching, which have become prevalent and deadly,” Mrs. Arroyo said.
Gil’s proposal for the setting up of CPRS was brought up during the Export Development Council meeting at the Palace Tuesday.
The proposal was first brought up after the Sept. 11, 2001 bombings in New York after military intelligence report confirmed that cellphones are being used by terrorists to activate homemade bombs.
But several lawmakers and non-government organizations, strongly opposed the proposal, citing possible violations of human rights such as wiretapping and invasion of privacy.
But Gil maintained that the CPRS “would be useful in preventing cellphone-based scams and use of cellphones for coordination of kidnap-for-ransom and terrorists activities.”
Gil, a former police general, also heads Task Force Aurora which President Arroyo created last year to streamline frontline services.
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