Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 16) – Senator Raffy Tulfo on Wednesday questioned the absence of intelligence funds for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in its proposed ₱11.32-billion budget for next year despite growing concerns about cybersecurity.
“Naku po, marami pong mga departamento, ahensya sa ating pamahalaan na hindi naman talaga kailangan ng intel funds and yet nabibigyan sila by the hundreds, by the millions,” Tulfo said during Senate debates on the DICT budget.
“Pero ito pong isang ahensya ng gobyerno tulad ng DICT na kailangang kailangan talaga natin to fight cybercrime lalo na ngayon sa pagdami ng mga scammer, text scam kung tawagin sa social media at nalalagay na sa panganib ang ating cybersecurity e bakit hindi natin lagayan ng intel funds?” he added.
[Translation: There are many departments, agencies in government that do not need intel funds but are being given such by the hundreds, by the millions. Why not give it to a government agency like DICT which is in dire need of funds to fight cybercrime especially with the proliferation of text scams and threats to cybersecurity?]
Senator Grace Poe, who defended DICT’s budget in plenary, quipped “Naubos na po siguro sa iba (All funds may have gone to other agencies).”
Confidential and intelligence funds worth a total of ₱9.3 billion are granted to various government agencies in the proposed spending plan. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and his deputy Senator Risa Hontiveros said they will move for the reduction and even deletion of some of these items, especially those lodged in agencies that do not even deal with national security.
Tulfo asked the DICT to validate information that some “national security data” are being sold on the dark web. Quoting DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy, Poe said “with the proper intel fund, we might be able to do more digging into the legitimacy of the claim that our information is being sold in the dark web.”
Poe added that the proper amendments can still be made to allot funds that the DICT can use to gather intelligence information.
“Siguro pwede tayong humiling sa chairman ng finance committee na magkaroon ng espasyo para dito (Maybe we can request the chairman of the finance committee to create space for this),” Poe said, referring to Senator Sonny Angara. “I think this agency deserves it.”
The Senate approved the proposed budget of the DICT and its attached agencies on Wednesday, but changes can still be made in the period of amendments.
