Duterte's SIM card bill veto checks bicam practice of 'insertions'

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte's recent veto of the proposed SIM card registration law should call attention to the legislators' practice of inserting new provisions in bills during bicameral conference committee (bicam) meetings, no matter how well-intentioned the insertion may be.

This is more than the issues of privacy rights and "rider" provision. It involves an apparent abuse in the exercise of legislative powers by a joint committee of senators and congressmen in threshing out conflicts involving bills approved on third and final reading by the Senate and the House of Representatives.