JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday said government agents fighting cyber-related crimes need more funds to recruit additional manpower and boost their operations against online criminals.
Remulla appealed to senators during the hearing on the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies to augment the funding for the cybercrime units of the DOJ and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“We have only 20 people sa aming (in our) cybercrime unit. We will be needing at least 200 people for this kaya nangangailangan talaga kami ng tulong (that’s why we really need some help here),” Remulla told senators.
“Ang krimen sa ngayon, 90 percent halos may cybercrime content, kahit nga sa mga holdapan sa bangko bihira ka na makarinig na pumapasok sa bangko na may dalang baril kundi cybercrime na ang pagnanakaw kasi ang nangyayari, sa mga computer natin at saka sa telepono ninanakaw ang pera (Almost 90 percent of crimes have cybercrime content. This is why we no longer hear of armed men entering and robbing banks since what happens is that our money is stolen through computers and telephones),” he also said.
Among the cases being handled by the DOJ and NBI cybercrime division are identity thefts, online scam or fraud, hacking of bank accounts and personal accounts, phishing, cyber libel, forensic accounting, and other violations that fall within the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
NBI Director Medardo de Lemos said a funding boost would be a welcome development, adding the agency will use it not only to hire and train more agents but also to finance the upgrade of their computers.
“We have a very small unit with 10 to 15 agents working in cybercrime, but we have several agents assigned in the provinces. But the bulk of the work are here in Metro Manila,” De Lemos told Sen. Joel Villanueva when the latter asked him about the 671 unfilled positions in the NBI structure.
“How many people are involved in cyber security and being trained to handle cyber security-related tasks?” Villanueva asked.
Sen. JV Ejercito said it is necessary to augment the funds of agencies involved in fighting cybercrimes as he noted the small amount of intelligence funds allocated to the NBI cybercrime division.
“Dito po sa budget, ang Office of Cybercrime ang intel nila is only P475,000. So, medyo mababa ito considering that other departments right now, especially those civilian in nature are asking for, lahat sila po nanghihingi na ng intel funds (In the budget, the NBI’s Office of Cybercrime has an intelligence fund of only P475, 000. This is relatively low considering that other departments right now, especially those civilian in nature, are asking for, all of them are asking for intel funds),” Ejercito said.
“I guess, these are the agencies we really have to put confidential funds kasi nga as I mentioned, this is the new crime that we are facing right now, the new enemy that we are facing now,” Ejercito added, referring to the cybercrime units of the DOJ and the NBI.
Under the proposed 2024 National Expenditure Program, the NBI was given P175 million in confidential funds, but De Lemos said they would need more.
“We need to augment it as well, since we need to penetrate these hackers and all those involved in cybercrimes,” the NBI chief said.
Also during the hearing, De Lemos urged senators to also increase their funding for the hiring and training of more agents.
‘Nationwide, wala pang 500 ang agents natin. Mababa po ang recruitment natin dahil mababa po ang salary level natin (Nationwide, we have only less than 500 agents. Our recruitment is low because we also have a low salary level),” De Lemos said.
De Lemos said Remulla has told him to ramp up the recruitment and training of new agents to cope with the increasing demand for the NBI’s investigative capacity, especially in cyber-related crimes.
“Hopefully, we will be able to start training additional agents next year,” he said, adding the NBI Academy in Baguio City can only train at least 30 to 40 agents a year.
Ideally, De Lemos said the NBI should be able to recruit and train around 120 agents every year which would require at least P19 million.
“Pero wala po kaming budget for training kaya humihingi kami ng tulong sa inyo dahil hindi kasi naaprubahan ng DBM (Department of Budget and Management),” he said.
“Di po kami na-approve ng DBM kasi di pa maayos ang aming Organization Structure and Staffing Pattern or OSSP at matatapos namin ‘yan by the end of the year (The DBM did not approve our request for funding for training because our Organization Structure and Staffing Pattern or OSSP is not yet complete but it will be completed by the end of the year),” he added.
The NBI chief said the OSSP will also help address the entry-level salary of NBI agents to Salary Grade 22 or more or less P80,000 monthly.
Senators Raffy Tulfo and Ejercito both expressed support and their intention to augment the budget for NBI’s recruitment, saying this is a “very important” part of their spending plan.
Tulfo said the Senate can realign the P50 million initially allotted for the confidential and intelligence funds of the Department of Agriculture to supplement the NBI funding.
“Wag sana magalit ang DA kasi may P50 million confidential and intelligence fund sila. I am proposing na medyo pumitas tayo sa budget na yun at i-transfer sa NBI. Para sa akin kasi it doesn’t make sense that DA will have confidential funds (I hope the DA would not get mad at me but maybe we get some funds from its confidential and intelligence funds. I am proposing that we realign some of these funds),” Tulfo said.
The NBI’s recommended budget for 2014 stood at P4.57 billion, or P1.7 billion higher than this year’s funding.
