Police stations across the country will soon have cybersecurity desks that would handle cybercrimes, the Philippine National Police said.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said this was in compliance with President Marcos’ directive to intensify the crackdown on cybercrimes, which are on the rise in this age of digital technology.
“However, not all of our police investigators assigned at station level are trained to respond to any cyber-related crimes so for now, training is ongoing by our RACUs (Regional Anti-Cybercrime Units),” she said.
Fajardo said that in Calabarzon, some 52 personnel have already completed training on introduction to cybercrimes while police offices in other regions have yet to schedule training.
She said the PNP targets to complete all cybercrime-related training for police officers this year.
“We are talking about local training. These are different from the ones given by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and our foreign counterparts. We also have those given by our investigators assigned to the ACG (Anti Cybercrime Group). We need to capacitate first our investigators and of course, we need to upgrade our ICT (information and communications technology) personnel to make sure that they are responsive to the latest cyber-related crimes that were recorded from the police station, provincial up to the regional level,” she added.
Based on the PNP’s latest data, online scam cases topped the list of cybercrimes logged in 2023 at 14,030, followed by identity theft at 2,804 and cyberlibel at 1,182.
Other cybercrimes logged in the past year include online threats (552); data interference (412), computer-related fraud (171), love scams (168), sextortion (121), and online violence against women and children (32).
Meanwhile, Col. Jay Guillermo, chief of the Cyber Response Unit of the PNP-ACG, said cybercrime syndicates have been taking advantage of strict security rules of condominium buildings and gated subdivisions to cover up their illegal activities.
Guillermo said this is one of the difficulties they are facing in running after cybercrime syndicates operating in the country, including those engaged in love scams.
“When we conducted in the past, we found out that part of the love scam was the setting up of a call center-like office. They are renting in big condominiums and subdivisions where policemen could not easily enter. While we are conducting the investigation, our fear is that by the time we are able to comply with the requirements for the conduct investigation inside, our targets are already gone,” he added.
Guillermo said there is no specific law that may be used to run after the owners of condominium units and houses in subdivisions that were used for illegal activities.
He said the enactment of a law that would hold owners accountable if their properties were found used in illegal activities would boost the government’s law enforcement capability. Vince Lopez