MANY political observers are asking: Is DICT Secretary Henry Aguda becoming the next bad PR for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.?
Following the flood-control scandal shaking the administration, another storm quietly brews – this time inside the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Observers say what should have been a showcase of digital governance is turning into a case study in administrative missteps, questionable procurement practices, and embarrassing cybersecurity failures.
At the center of it is DICT Secretary Aguda – whose actions are perceived to be increasingly positioning him as a liability to President Bongbong Marcos.
Procurement Firestorm:
Sen. Risa Hontiveros – normally calm and measured – accused Aguda and his team of “lying” to justify bypassing procurement rules for the P3-billion Bayanihan SIM Project.
Hontiveros said Aguda wrote Malacañang on July 1 seeking direct contracting instead of public bidding, claiming the new procurement law’s IRR had not been published. Hontiveros exposed this as false, pointing out the IRR was already promulgated last Feb. 11.
Her sharp rebuke – “Hindi dapat nagbibigay ng sagot ang executive na mali… o pwedeng tawaging kasinungalingan” – left DICT budget sponsor Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian visibly uncomfortable, especially after he had just been praised by Sen. Ping Lacson for steering the Senate budget hearings well.
Adding pressure on the department is the separate public clamor for an investigation into DICT Undersecretary Faye Sagon, following allegations in news reports about procurement-related issues and concerns over possible irregularities under her supervision.
Calls for a formal probe by netizens, according to news reports, raised sentiments that have eroded public confidence in DICT’s leadership – at a time when the agency is already under intense scrutiny for its handling of the Bayanihan SIM Project.
Aguda’s missteps – now compounded by mounting demands to investigate his own undersecretary – have dragged the President’s allies, and the DICT’s credibility, into an unnecessary political mess.
The Cybersecurity Meltdown Under Aguda’s Watch
If the procurement fiasco paints a picture of administrative confusion, observers note the country’s cybersecurity landscape under Aguda reveals something worse: a department paralyzed by poor strategy, empty PR stunts, and cascading system failures.
Aguda’s grand solution was the so-called “Cyberdome” – a flashy PR concept that cybersecurity professionals immediately dismissed as superficial and technically hollow.
This, in an era when real solutions require competence, not buzzwords,
Cyberdome a punchline
Meanwhile, the cyberattacks kept coming – and getting worse.
Since Aguda assumed office in April, the country has been hit by a relentless wave of cyber incidents that exposed the government’s widening vulnerabilities.
According to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), a 2-terabyte data compromise occurred in April – an early indication of a major breach affecting a national government agency.
By mid-year, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) reported it had tracked 234 data breaches across high-level government institutions, a volume of incidents that cybersecurity experts said should have triggered an immediate nationwide audit but did not.
The situation worsened on Sept. 21, when 19 government websites were defaced, including those of DPWH, DBM, DFA, and BOC.
These attacks were claimed by hacktivist groups, citing anti-corruption motives and were described by national media as the largest coordinated defacement of government websites in recent years.
By November, the cyberattacks peaked. Hacktivist group #HappyGoLuckyPH claimed responsibility for several major incidents: on Nov. 5, DDoS-like attacks crippled PNP websites; days later, the group announced a 400GB SQL data breach involving DILG systems; and in earlier posts, and the DPWH.
Under Aguda, cyberattacks are no longer sporadic – they are systematic and escalating, highlighting a vacuum in leadership, expertise, and credible strategy.
A Pattern Becomes Clear
Keen political observers say two issues now define the DICT under Aguda.
First is a troubling willingness to bend or misrepresent facts in billion-peso procurements – actions that risk dragging Malacañang into an avoidable legal and political crisis.
Second is a catastrophic failure to protect government systems from escalating cyberattacks, made worse by hollow PR stunts that convince no one and solve nothing.
Both expose President Marcos to unnecessary political damage at a time when public trust is already strained by the flood-control scandal.
PR Cannot Replace Performance
At the end of the day, Aguda’s leadership is marked by a dangerous pattern: PR over substance.
The Cyberdome? PR.
The justification for direct contracting? PR.
The messaging around data breaches? PR.
But PR cannot plug vulnerabilities, cannot rewrite procurement laws, and cannot stop hacktivists from exploiting weak systems.
The more Aguda leans on optics, the more the facts catch up – and the more he becomes a political and operational liability to the Marcos administration.
Is Aguda fast emerging as the next biggest bad PR for President Bongbong Marcos? – observers question echoes well into the night.
