The National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) needs to cope up with the increasing crimes being committed online, the agency’s anti-cybercrime chief said on Tuesday (Oct. 6).
NBI Cyber Crime Division (CCD) Chief Victor Lorenzo pointed this out after Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra pushed before the Senate on Monday (Oct. 5) the budget augmentation for the anti-cybercrime units of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the NBI.
“It is really a much needed fund to boost the anti-cybercrime effort of the NBI,” said Lorenzo.
“We should be able to cope up with the fast advancing technology and with the unprecedented and unanticipated increase in criminal activities online,” he pointed out.
During Monday’s subcommittee hearing of the Senate Committee on Finance, Guevarra proposed to have a P22.5 billion budget for the DOJ in 2021. The NBI is an agency attached under the DOJ.
“In both agencies, we are hoping for an improvement or additional allocation for these two units,” the secretary said during the hearing.
“Because they are performing a mandate that is so relevant at this time considering that many online crimes and offenses are being committed through cyberspace,” he explained.
Aside from the NBI-CCD, Guevarra noted that the DOJ also has the Office of Cybercrime (OOC).
“So we need improved technologies, capacity building along these lines, so we're really hoping that more appropriations can be devoted to improving the resources of our cybercrime offices both at the DOJ and the NBI,” Guevarra said.