Bicam mulls restoration of DICT’s P280 million confidential funds
The bicameral conference committee is considering the restoration of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) confidential funds worth P280 million to fight against rising cybercrimes.
The Senate approved the DICT’s P9.9 billion budget for next year, but its confidential funds worth P280 million were moved to regular line-item budgets.
Senator Sonny Angara, chairperson of the upper chamber’s Finance committee, said that weak cybersecurity would have a big impact on the economy.
“What we talked about is I think to increase the cybersecurity because we know that sometimes the war is not on the battlefield, right?” Angara said on the first day of the bicameral conference committee at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City.
“We as consumers, we do online transactions. Without it, our economy will come to a halt. So I think the DICT is trying to appeal to bring back at least a portion of their confidential funds,” he added.
Angara said they are still discussing the possible amount of confidential funds that could be restored to the DICT with Senator Grace Poe who sponsors the budget of the agency.
“We’re trying to get her feedback if she’s amenable to that,” he said.
Senator JV Ejercito said that aside from DICT, other civilian agencies are not likely to recover their confidential funds.
“I don’t think it will be. We’re finished in the Senate and in the House so I don’t see any justification to restore that,” Ejercito said.
Senator Dela Rosa said he was in favor of restoring the confidential funds of the DICT.
“The DICT needs that because the battle is in cyber warfare, right?” Dela Rosa told reporters.
“The software and hardware for that is very expensive. If you buy equipment for that today, next year that’s already outmoded because hackers are quick to upgrade their equipment. So next year, you need to spend again. That’s how costly cyber warfare is. So if we don’t support the DICT, the Filipinos would be affected. Many will become victims of cybercrimes,” he added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
Drought to hit three provinces before the end of the year
Three provinces in Calabarzon and Mimaropa regions are expected to experience drought next month.
In an interview during the "Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon" public briefing, Weather specialist Joey Figuracion confirmed that the provinces of Batangas, Cavite and Oriental Mindoro are expected to experience drought due to the effect of El Nino.
"Yes, that is based on our assessment in the past months, past five months. Based on the amount of rainfall received by those areas and based on our forecast for December, it is true that we will not have enough rains in the area of Batangas, Cavite, and Oriental Mindoro and it is related to the ongoing El Nino now," he said.
Figuracion also confirmed that some parts of Northern Luzon have already experienced dry spells based on the assessment made in previous months.
"Based on our forecast and assessment in the previous months, there is not enough water or dry spell condition in parts of Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Apayao, Mountain Province, these areas in CAR," he said.
Figuracion said other areas that experience dry spell condition also includes Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Aurora and even Palawan".
"Even in December, based on our forecast the expected amount of rainfall is still below normal," he said. Robina Asido/DMS
