Cybercrime Unit Eyes P1.5 Billion Budget for 2027

MANILA, Philippines — The government’s anti-cybercrime unit is seeking a budget of at least P1.5 billion for 2027, as it looks to expand the number of personnel responding to complaints on digital fraud. The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) had asked lawmakers to approve its request for a higher budget of as much as P1.5 billion for 2027. CICC executive director Renato Paraiso said this is the time to increase the agency’s budget now that Filipinos are more aware of their digital rights. The CICC, through Hotline 1326, is receiving around 80 complaints on cybercrimes this year. At times, the hotline gets as many as 200 calls, with cases ranging from traditional modus like love scams to newer schemes using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. However, Paraiso lamented the shortage of personnel responding to the complaints. The ideal situation is that the hotline is served by over 40 agents per shift, far from the current situation of just five per shift. On top of this, CICC plans to buy new solutions to improve its capability in scrubbing the online world, as fraudsters now employ AI tools to enhance their scam operations. If the P1.5-billion budget is approved, this will be CICC’s highest capital to date, and is nearly triple this year’s allocation of P573.78 million. In his keynote speech at the BusinessWorld Cybersecurity Summit 2026, Paraiso emphasized the urgency for public and private agencies to not just build up their cybersecurity capabilities, but to increase their organizational resilience as well. Paraiso said some attacks would really succeed, especially as AI becomes smarter. Given this, he encouraged organizations to come up with resiliency plans to protect critical assets and speed up operational recovery. Maya Philippines Inc. head of corporate affairs Kristoffer Rada called for industry-wide response on consumer protection. He said Filipinos still fall for some of the most common scams, such as phishing and smishing. These scams are most notorious in duping Filipinos with digital finance, sending them malicious links that impersonate reputable organizations like banks. Rada said Maya, on its own, employs various safeguards to fend off potential threats, but he also underscored the need for industry players to come together to strengthen the campaign.