Metro Manila, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is monitoring a group amid concerns that children are being invited from online games into separate chat groups, where alleged “groomers” encourage increasingly violent behavior.
The monitoring comes amid the recent school shootings, with authorities looking into a possible pattern behind incidents of violence involving minors.
NBI Director Melvin Matibag disclosed the surveillance during a House hearing on the Department of Justice’s proposed 2027 budget on Monday, Aug. 24.
Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said authorities had observed a pattern in which children playing online games were invited to join separate chat groups, where alleged “groomers” appeared to encourage escalating levels of violence.
Vida said the exact extent of the alleged grooming is still being determined, but urged the public to closely monitor children’s online activities, particularly when they are invited into separate chat groups.
He said the DOJ would submit a confidential report on its findings to House lawmakers, declining to publicly identify the groups to avoid compromising ongoing investigations and other law enforcement activities.
Matibag said the NBI was treating the incidents not as isolated cases and had placed one group under surveillance.
He said investigators monitoring the group found indications of attacks allegedly scheduled in the coming months. The group chat has since been disbanded, while several personalities linked to it have been identified.
The NBI knows where the identified personalities are located, Matibag said, but investigators are still working to identify the group’s principals and verify the information before taking action.
On Wednesday, a Philippine delegation composed of representatives from the NBI, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Office of the Executive Secretary and Office of the Speaker will travel to Singapore to meet with Meta officials. Matibag said the online group and concerns raised by the DOJ would be among the issues to be discussed.
