Both the Department of Justice’s Office of Cybercrime (DOJ-OCC) and the National Bureau of Investigation’s Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD) are fully manned and equipped to probe and prosecute cybercrimes in the country.
Aside from the CCD in its main offices in Quezon City, the NBI is determined to set up offices in the cities of Cebu, Davao, and Baguio as its regional offices.
NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand M. Lavin said that “new equipment, systems and processes are already in place for these regional offices.”
Very recently, Lavin said, NBI Officer-in-Charge Director Eric B. Distor “assigned one Batch of new graduates of the NBI Academy -- lawyers and CPAs (certified public accountants) -- to the Cyber Crime Center to address the growing number of cybercrime incidents.
There were 16 agents from the NBI Academy’s Batch 51 “Novis Illustrado” assigned to the NBI-CCD this year, and the first time an entire batch from NBI Academy was assigned to a single division of the agency, he said.
“Since its creation, the DOJ-OOC continuously develops policies and strategies aimed at combating cybercrime and cyber-related offenses,” said DOJ-OOC Officer-in-Charge Director Charito A. Zamora.
“It has always adopted multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approaches in addressing the challenges and issues encountered in cybercrime enforcement and prosecution,” Zamora said.
She pointed out that the DOJ-OCC is “one of the competent authorities in dealing with cybercrimes and crimes that entail the collection of electronic evidence.”
“The DOJ-OOC is also considered the gateway of the government to the international community with regard to cybercrime and cyber-related matters as the 24/7 point of contact of various networks such as the Budapest Convention and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” she noted.
The DOJ-OCC, she said, has four state counsels and 10 investigation agents.
“It is manned by specialized personnel who are investigators and lawyers, who have undergone various trainings local and abroad on matters pertaining to cybercrime and electronic evidence,” she said.
“These learnings are later on cascaded to local criminal justice sector stakeholders through implementation of sustainable training courses,” she added.
However, Zamora said, the DOJ-OCC has been encountering “challenges” in addressing cybercrimes in the country.
“The biggest challenge being faced actually is the failure of ISPs (internet service providers) to comply with their obligations under the law, such as, preserving and disclosing computer data associated with a specific IP (internet protocol) address,” she lamented.
“Such failure results in the loss of investigative leads and ultimately affects the ability of the agencies concerned to prosecute illegal activities committed online,” she explained.
But, she said, efforts have been undertaken to cope “with these challenges.”
On Friday, Feb. 4, the DOJ and the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) are set to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on the detection and prevention of cybercrimes.
In a statement, BAP said that, among other collaborations, the MOA “will facilitate the creation of a collective, coordinated and strategic cyber response that is crucial in this period of heightened cyber criminality.”