PNP probes hacking attacks

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine National Police is investigating who are behind the hactivist group Anonymous Philippines, which launched a series of attacks on mostly government websites to protest the cybercrime law.

PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. said police authorities were looking into the background of the group and the specific violations it has committed for defacing several websites.

Among the defaced websites under the group’s operation “#OpPhilippines” were that of the Police Community Relations Group of the Philippine National Police, the Maritime Industry Authority, and the Intellectual Property Office.

“We have to identify first who are behind these attacks. Once we’ve identified them, we will determine what specific violations of the law they have violated,” Cerbo said.

But so far, aside from the name “Anonymous Philippines,” Cerbo said that they haven’t got any other information about the group yet.

Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 took effect Wednesday.

Being the lead agency to implement the law, Cerbo said “there is nothing to be afraid of,” vowing that the PNP “will not use the law to curtail the public’s freedom of expression.

“Tutulong nga kami para maging orderly ang ating cyberspace, (We will help to make our cyberspace orderly)” Cerbo said.

Moreover, with the passage of the Cybercrime Law, Cerbo said the constitution will now have a wider scope to cover cases that usually don’t prosper in the past just because of the absence of a proper law.

“With the passage of the cybercrime Law, at least our law is clear that it could be used to go after violators with criminal intent,” the police spokesman said, adding that the recent hacking activities is one reason that justifies the need for the cybercrime law.

Anonymous Philippines has listed other targets, including Senator Tito Sotto’s official website.

These are:

• https://www.senate.gov.ph/
• https://congress.gov.ph/
• https://www.gov.ph/
• https://president.gov.ph/
• https://www.bir.gov.ph/
• https://customs.gov.ph/
• https://www.pnp.gov.ph
• https://www.nbi.gov.ph
• https://www.ntc.gov.ph/
• https://www.doh.gov.ph
• https://www.bsp.gov.ph/
• https://www.marina.gov.ph/
• https://www.dilg.gov.ph/
• https://pia.gov.ph/
• https://www.papt.org.ph
• https://www.smokefree.doh.gov.ph/
• https://www.mmda.gov.ph
• https://www.meralco.com.ph/
• https://www.doj.gov.ph/
• https://titosotto.com/

The group in a statement lamented that with the enactment into law of the cybercrime bill, “freedom of expression in the Philippines” has been curtailed.

“The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is the most notorious law ever witnessed in cyber-history, and the language of the bill is cunningly designed to make you think it only applies to individuals who are deep in cyber-technology and doesn’t apply to everyone – but some parts of the bill basically say the government can imprison anyone who commits libel either by written messages, comments, blogs, or posts in sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or any other comment-spaces of social media in the Internet,” it said.

“It effectively gives the Philippine government the ability to totally censor anyone for virtually anything they don’t like,” it said.

“It is just so disappointing that the government of the Philippines, in adapting 80-year-old antiquated libel laws to Cybercrime Law – again seems to have hindered our march with the rest of the world with respect to giving full force to the people’s freedom of expression.”