Tulfo urges CICC to prepare for a rise in deepfakes

Senator Raffy Tulfo urged the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) to address the rise in deepfakes, especially as the mid-term elections draw closer.

He expressed his concerns at the hearing of the Senate Finance Subcommittee of the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s proposed 2025 budget.

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In response, the CICC said it has been enhancing its digital forensics and cybersecurity capabilities to deal with the emerging threat.

How will the CICC fight deepfakes?

“I’m really concerned with the use of AI to spread fake news. The face of a person, even opening the mouth, speaking, it’s like it’s real… And it’s increasing,” Tulfo said.

The lawmaker emphasized that people might do something or believe something because AI-generated videos use real persons.

“They’re telling people to do something or expose something, when, in fact, that something is fake news,” the senator observed.

“And a lot of people will believe it because the faces of the people are real,” he pointed out.

CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos said his office has been developing new tools in partnership with De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde (DLC-CSB). 

It has funding from the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).

“As far as what we are doing at present, because of the lack of regulation on AI here in the country… we are adopting certain standards on identifying what is real and what is not,” Ramos told the senator. 

He also informed the subcommittee that these tools focus on cryptocurrency, ransomware and artificial intelligence.

“All crimes are related to utilizing any of these three major tools. That’s why we are actually developing a field of expertise in these by continuous training,” he said.

In August, the CICC launched a training program for CICC personnel and its partner agencies to improve their digital forensic and cybersecurity capabilities.

The CICC proposed a budget of ₱487 million for 2025, which is a 2.6% increase from the previous budget.

It intends to fund flagship projects like the National Cybercrime Hub (NCH), the InterAgency Response Center and Project ACUITY.

The latter is the agency’s cybercrime awareness and education program.