Antipolo City 2nd district Rep. Romeo Acop (Facebook)

Antipolo City 2nd district Rep. Romeo Acop is batting for the creation of a singular national cybersecurity strategy as a way to safeguard the country from malicious cyber threats.

Acop made this pitch during a joint hearing of the Committees on Information and Communications Technology and on Public information on Tuesday, April 30. The two panels sought to address the seemingly relentless cyberattacks on several government institutions.

In his interpellation, the veteran lawmaker questioned the Department Of Information And Communications Technology (DICT) for having two distinct cybersecurity plans.

Specifically, these plans are the National Cybersecurity Plan 2023-2028 and the National Security Policy 2023-2038, which also entails some cybersecurity features.

“That’s the problem kasi kung kayo mismo ang nag-iimplement nito ay marami, ‘di nagkakaisa, may problema tayo (because if you implement it yourself and there are many, not singular, we have a problem) because we should only have one national cyber defense plan to be implemented by the government,” Acop told DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy.

Acop emphasized that having this “shotgun approach” will only breed countless of threats to the Philippines’ cybersecurity.

He pointed out that so far in 2024, cyberattacks in the country rose by 325 percent.

While DICT’s Dy declined to confirm, Acop suggests that this sudden spike could be because of the country’s ongoing territorial dispute against China over the West Philippines Sea (WPS).

“In January alone, 43 cyber incidences compromised government agencies,” the Antipolo congressman noted, and warned that if left unchecked the attacks may trigger a domino effect that could threaten the economy.

According to the DICT’s latest figures for 2024, there are 282 reported incidents and 30,682 vulnerabilities that affected government institutions.

The joint committee hearing then transitioned into an executive session, where sensitive information on the cyberattacks—including the suspected perpetrators—was discussed. An executive session is closed off to reporters.