Social media giant Meta plans to establish a physical office in the Philippines to improve coordination with law enforcement in addressing online threats and harmful content, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Melvin Matibag announced.

Matibag disclosed the development following a high-level meeting with Meta executives in Singapore, where a delegation of Philippine officials sought enhanced data sharing and faster response times for removing dangerous digital content.

“Many concerns were covered during the meeting, and we are very positive,” Matibag said.

The Philippine delegation included Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center Undersecretary Aboy Paraiso, officials from the National Telecommunications Commission, and representatives from both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The bilateral discussions focused on countering “nihilistic violence” and online threats, referencing recent security incidents in Tacloban and Zamboanga.

Matibag cited that the NBI regularly forwards intelligence gathered from its monitoring operations to Meta to preempt potential security risks.

According to Matibag, a dedicated local office will streamline communication between Philippine law enforcement agencies and Meta, allowing for the rapid removal of posts containing credible threats.

“Our message here is that those doing something bad in cyberspace can no longer hide,” Matibag said. “They can no longer hide.”