Press Release
January 2, 2012

PHL SHOULD JOIN GLOBAL INITIATIVES
AGAINST CYBERCRIME - ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara said that the Philippines must participate in worldwide initiatives against cybercrime, citing a forum recently organized by the United Nations (UN) which underscored that developing countries face a higher risk of being targeted by cyberattacks.

Speaking at the Special Event on Cybersecurity and Development, Lazarous Kapambwe, president of the UN Economic and Social Council, highlighted the urgency of setting up measures against cybercrimes given that the ubiquity of information and communications technology (ICT) magnifies the impact of such attacks.

"An entire ecosystem devoted to digital surveillance, cyber forensics, and legal enforcement has to be in place," said Angara. "But developing countries like the Philippines are at a disadvantage because either they do not have the institutional framework in place or are still in the process of building it up."

The veteran lawmaker noted that prior to the forum, the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in conjunction with the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) carried out cyberdrills for testing the response technologies of selected countries.

The exercise included Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam and was structured to highlight real-life constraints to cybercrime responses, especially when orchestrated together by countries of differing development status.

"This is a laudable exercise--one which the Philippines can contribute to greatly if repeated in the future," said Angara. "The drill should illustrate that since cybercrimes are borderless in nature, efforts against them should be transnational as well."

He explained, "This is why we crafted the Cybercrime Prevention Act to promote international cooperation in the detection, prevention and prosecution of such crimes. That we are still in the process of creating our own framework against cybercrime does not mean that we should not leverage on the capacities of our more advanced neighbors."

Angara authored and sponsored Senate Bill 2976 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which is currently in the period of interpellation.

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