Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez sign on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, the proposed Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act, and the bill postponing this year’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
The two bills, earlier ratified by the Senate and the House of Representatives, would be the first legislative measures to be submitted by the 19th Congress to Malacañang for President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s approval. In the ceremonial signing held at the Manila Golf Club in Makati City, Zubiri thanked his fellow lawmakers for the “historic” signing of the two proposed laws, citing the partnership and bipartisanship of the members of the two Congress chambers. The SIM Registration Bill, he said, “is really a bill that will help strengthen our security measures” against fraud, terrorism, and other mobile phone-aided crimes.
The deferment of the barangay and SK polls, meanwhile, would allow the government to focus on economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, he added. “Let us pass as many pieces of legislation for the benefit of our country,” Zubiri said. Joining the Senate President in the ceremonial signing were Majority Leader Joel Villanueva and Senators Grace Poe, Imee Marcos and Joseph “Victor” Ejercito, Presidential-Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza, Senate Secretariat officials, as well as their House counterparts. After the signing, the two enrolled bills were received by PLLO Sec. Mendoza for transmittal to the Office of the President. (Senate PRIB)
