Not yet a nat’l security threat

MANILA, Philippines—Street and online protests against the Cybercrime Prevention Act which include hacking of government websites do not comprise a national security threat, according to an official of the Defense Department.

In fact, said Director Nebuchadnezzar Alejandrino, chief of the Information Management Office (IMO) of the Department of National Defense (DND), it was unlikely that the widespread public discontent against the law, criticized as an attack on civil liberties, could even undermine the country’s entire security situation.

At the forum called “The Cybercrime Law and its Implications to National Security” held at the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), Alejandrino said the fact that people were still able to express their sentiments and go about their daily routine was evidence that the protests posed no threat to the nation’s security.

However, Taguig-Pateros Rep. Freddie Tiñga, a proponent of the Cybercrime Act in the House of Representatives, told reporters that he considered the hacking activities in the online protests as a “national security concern.”