Philippine Senate passes Cybercrime bill

By eGov Innovation Editors | Feb 1, 2012

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The Philippine Senate passed on third and final reading the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Senate Bill No. 2796), which will provide a legal framework for the investigation, apprehension and prosecution of cybercriminals.

Thirteen out of 14 senators voted for the measure, which is expected to protect web-surfers from such Internet-related crimes as online theft, fraud, hacking, cyber-squatting and child pornography.

"Their approval sends out a clear message that the Philippines is taking decisive steps not only in safeguarding its digital space, but also in assuring its transition into a full-fledged knowledge-based economy," said Senator Edgardo J. Angara, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology and principal author of the bill.

The bill, however, has to undergo a bicameral review before it becomes a national law.

The Cybercrime Prevention Act is one of the three ICT measures authored by Angara in support of IT-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry in the Philippines. The other two measures pending in the two houses of Congress are the Data Privacy Act and the measure creating a Department of Information and Communications Technology.