PH, US partner up for training of judges on new cybercrime court rules

The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines has trained 35 Metro Manila cybercrime court judges to help them implement new procedures in dealing with cybercrime cases.

The training, which was conducted on September 20 and 21, was developed through the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training (OPDAT) together with the Philippine Supreme Court (SC) and the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA).

During the training, SC Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe provided an overview on cybercrime as well as new procedures for obtaining warrants and other court orders for gathering digital evidence in criminal cases.

SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen meanwhile presided over a session on privacy interests in cybercrime investigations.

The other sessions covered the new rules on acquisition and disposition of digital evidence.

Meanwhile, Ovie Carroll, head of the U.S. Department of Justice Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section Laboratory spoke on digital forensics and techniques for recovering digital evidence.

Following the lectures, the judges examined and ruled on the applicability of the new rules against a hypothetical case.

“The training proved highly successful and we look forward to more,” retired SC Associate Justice and PHILJA Chancellor Adolfo Azcuna said.

The U.S. Embassy, through OPDAT, is working with Philippine partners to develop anti-cybercrime capacity by training judges, prosecutors, investigators, and other government officials, as well as developing cybercrime training videos.

OPDAT also helped develop a new cybercrime course for criminology students nationwide.  /muf