Lagman still favors zero confidential funds for DICT despite more data breaches in gov't

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 12) — Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) should not have its own confidential funds since it can just tap security agencies to conduct its surveillance activities.

“The DICT, in the first place, has a very low absorptive capacity among the agencies we have reviewed,” he told CNN Philippines’ The Source on Thursday. “We should maintain the zero allocation and…they can avail of the expert services of agencies who are having their own confidential and intelligence funds.”

DICT Secretary Ivan Uy told CNN Philippines on Wednesday the agency will be vulnerable to a data breach and might end up like the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) if it will not be granted enough funds to renew and maintain its cybersecurity systems in 2024. It was one of the agencies whose confidential funds were realigned to those that focus on national security.

Lagman said the DICT can appeal this, but maintained the department can just tap cybersecurity experts of the National Bureau of Investigation and the military for their surveillance needs to prevent duplication of allocations.

Uy also told reporters on Wednesday that there areother government agencies hit by data breaches, but are not reporting it due to issues that might be uncovered.

The Philippine Statistics Authority recently revealed that it is looking into an alleged data breach that affected its Community-Based Monitoring System.