The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said it further enhanced its capability to probe criminal offenses with the hiring of 44 new agents who are mostly lawyers and information technology (IT) experts.
NBI Director Jaime B. Santiago said the 44 new agents underwent training and graduated on Monday, March 24, in a ceremony held at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila.
“So madadagdagan ang ating cybercrime agents at ang technical intelligence agents, pati forensic examiners (So we have more cybercrime agents, technical intelligence agents as well as forensic examiners),” Santiago said.
He said “i-distribute namin sila doon sa mga unit na yun, mga important units (we will distribute them in various units, important units).”
At the same time, Santiago cited the importance of having IT experts among the bureau’s ranks.
“Alam nyo naman ang krimen ngayon ay cybercrime na. ‘Yan ang bagong trend buong mundo, hindi lang dito sa Pilipinas. Kaya kailangan talaga magsumikap kami, mag-advance kami, one step ahead dito sa mga cybercrime violators na ito (You know cybercrime is the crime being committed now. That’s the trend around the world and not just here in the Philippines. That’s why we have to work hard, make advancements, and be one step ahead against cybercrime violators),” he explained.
He cited that among the crybercrimes being looked into are those committed by vloggers who spread fake news, and the investigation is being done in collaboration with other government agencies.
“Last week lang, nag-meeting na kami ng DICT, ng NTC. Nag-usap-usap na kami kung paano namin once and for all masawata itong mga fake news spreader, mga vloggers na nagbibigay ng fake news at saka yung creators na makapag-create lang kahit hindi tama ‘yung ginagawa nila (Just last week, we had a meeting with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Telecommunications Commission. We talked about how we can once and for all stop these fake news spreaders, vloggers who provide fake news and content creators who just create even what they are doing is wrong),” he also said.
Under investigation are more than 20 vloggers, he added.
“Tinitingnan namin bakit dumadami, bakit parang iisa ang tema nila. Sumasakay sa kaguluhan ng ating political atmosphere. Hindi dapat mangyari. Magugulo ang ating bayan, malilito ang ating mga mamamayan. (We are looking at why their numbers are increasing, why they have the same topics. They are riding on the chaos of the political atmosphere. That shouldn’t happen. Chaos will grip the nation and our citizens will get confused),” he stressed.