Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday, April 19, said that he is still working to save his prepaid SIM Card registration bill that was vetoed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Sotto, at a press conference in Bacolod City, said the veto by the president of the consolidated version of Senate Bill No. 2395 and House Bill No. 5793 can be overturned.
When the president vetoes a bill it is as good as dead unless the two houses of Congress voting separately overturn the veto by two thirds votes, Sotto said.
The bill will then become a law without the signature of the president, Sotto said.
Sotto said he has been pushing for the prepaid SIM Card registration law since 1998. He pointed out that unregistered prepaid SIM cards have been used for bombings, scams, scandals, and to put people in a bad light that can be prevented if they are registered.
The Senate president said he discussed his plan to save the bill with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, pointing out that there is only one provision in it that the Executive Branch is opposing.
Duterte vetoed the measure because the inclusion of social media providers in the registration was not part of the original version of the bill and needed a more thorough study, acting presidential spokesperson Secretary Martin Andanar said earlier.
Sotto said Congress only has six working days left from May 23 to June 3 to save the bill, since there is no time to file it again.
A petition can be filed before the Supreme Court later to declare the provision opposed by the Executive Branch unconstitutional, Sotto said.
Medialdea told him they would study his proposal, he added.
Sotto said he will also pursue the inquiry into the persons behind vegetable smuggling, which allegedly includes some government officials as protectors.
He will conduct a hearing as soon as he gets the list of names of those involved from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and make a committee report recommending the filing of cases against them before the Ombudsman, Sotto said.*