Daily TribuneThe DICT was among the five agencies that got zero confidential funds in 2024 following a consensus by the House to channel it to agencies in charge of monitoring and protecting the country's national security and territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea.
Congress will scout for more avenues to augment the budget of the Department of Information and Communication Technology amid the rampant cyber-attacks targeting the databases and websites of various government agencies.
House Committee on Appropriations chairperson Elizaldy Co on Monday tapped the Department of Budget and Management to allocate additional funds to the DICT as part of the government's effort to stave off another cyber-attacks that initially targeted the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, Department of Science and Technology, the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The official website of the House of Representatives was the most recent subject of cyber hackers and data breaches, who managed to alter its various sections with troll faces early Sunday.
The House, according to Co, will also seek the Senate's support to rally for the DICT's additional funding.
"We recognize the dire need of the DICT for resources to fight cybercrime and ransomware attacks," Co said.
The additional resources, he added, can be pulled out from the Unprogrammed Funds of this year's P5.268 trillion national budget.
The unprogrammed funds are typically tapped by the government in cases of emergencies when infrastructure projects and social programs are required.
This may be utilized in specific cases of surplus revenue collections, new revenue collections, and authorized loans for foreign-assisted projects.
Moreover, Co said that some vulnerable agencies' savings could also be authorized for augmentation spending on IT security and ransomware countermeasures.
The DICT was among the five agencies that got zero confidential funds in 2024 following a consensus by the House to channel it to agencies in charge of monitoring and protecting the country's national security and territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea.
This despite DICT chief Ivan Uy previously justified the need for intelligence funds to conduct intel and investigation to go after cybercriminals, claiming "many of these methodologies require confidential funds."
The DICT, which economic managers flagged for having the lowest budget utilization rates, sought P300 million in confidential funds under the 2024 proposed national budget to purge cybercrime.
The agency suffered the largest budget cut in 2024 budget at P8.729 billion due to its low spending efficiency.
