CAMARINES Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte yesterday urged new Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda to prioritize strengthening data privacy and cybersecurity.
He cited a report of mobile security firm Appdome that the Philippines faces financial losses of $1.5 billion or P86 billion this year alone from cyberattacks targeting mobile phone users.
“As the newly minted honcho at the DICT, Secretary Henry (Aguda) can put to use his extensive experience and expertise in digital transformation in the corporate world to possibly do wonders for the government’s drive to check surging cyber fraud,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte echoed the statement of Appdome co-creator and CEO Tom Tovar, who earlier said that among the digital threats worldwide are mobile “Trojan” attacks, which look like “seemingly legitimate” smart phone applications like expense trackers or photo and video editors.
Appdome’s Mobile Consumer Survey in 2024 showed that 54.7 percent of Filipino consumers use mobile applications more than surfing the web and that 61.6 percent of the respondents claimed they use e-wallets for their payments.
Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro also said that financial institutions incurred some P528 billion in losses from cyberattacks in 2024, which prompted President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to order Aguda to prioritize the administration’s digitalization program, including nationwide internet connectivity and cybersecurity.
Villafuerte said the DICT secretary would also do well to work with Congress in revisiting the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registration law since it seems to have failed in deterring text and online fraud.
The Camarines Sur lawmaker was a lead author of Republic Act (RA) No. 11934, or the “SIM Registration Act,” which the President signed in 2022.
“For the government to get RA 11934 right this time, Secretary Henry needs to give priority attention to a revisit and overhaul of this seemingly ineffectual regulation by working with its CICC (Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center) along with the Congress, NTC (National Telecommunications Commission), NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), PNP (Philippine National Police) and other concerned institutions with an eye to a far more synergetic and effective multisectoral approach to combating text and online scams,” Villafuerte said.
The President announced Aguda’s appointment of last March 30, succeeding Ivan John Uy.
As the Digital Infrastructure sector lead of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), Aguda played a pivotal role in providing the President with strategies and innovative initiatives to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure and create more than a million digital jobs.
Aguda previously served as the president and CEO of UnionDigital Bank and held senior leadership roles at UnionBank as chief technology and operations officer, as well as chief transformation officer.
The new DICT head also served as chief technology officer (CTO) at Globe Telecom, Digital Telecommunications Philippines (Digitel) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
