Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Brian Raymund Yamsuan has called on fellow lawmakers to expedite the approval of pending bills in Congress that aim to protect the Philippine’s digital infrastructure from cyberattacks.

Yamsuan made the call in light of President Marcos’ recent adoption of the government’s National Cybersecurity Plan (NCSP) 2023-2028, through Executive Order No. 58.

“The National Cybersecurity Plan adopted by the President, complemented by strengthening multilateral ties with our allies and passing pending bills in Congress that aim to transport our country safety into the digital era will help fortify our defenses against increasing cyberthreats and other intrusions,” Yamsuan said.

According to the lawmaker, one of his co-authored measures, House Bill No. 8199, provides the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) a starting point to effectively implement the President’s NCSP.

NCSP provides a whole-of-nation roadmap aimed at strengthening the security and resilience of the country’s cyberspace. On the other hand, HB 8199 prescribes security measures to critical information instructure (CII) institutions to protect digital assets from risks, threats and attacks, the solon noted.

“This measure complements the NCSP and is a good jump-off point in accomplishing one of the Plan’s primary objectives, which is to ensure convergence among all government agencies in protecting our country from cyberattacks,” Yamsuan said.

At the same time, the solon also welcomed reports that President Marcos, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden will set up a joint cyberdefense framework which they will finalize when the three leaders meet for a trilateral summit in Washington on April 11.

Based on DICT records, the Philippines has increasingly been vulnerable to cyberattacks. Its National Computer Emergency Response Team (NCERT) was able to monitor 57,400 cybersecurity threats, and handled 3,470 incidents from 2021 to February 28, 2023.

According to the agency, an overwhelming majority of these incidents targeted government emergency response systems, the academe, and the telecommunications sector.

Only recently, the government confirmed that the websites of the House, Senate, Philhealth, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), were either hacked or compromised.