CICC flags 9 persons, groups over alleged Sona disruption plans

MANILA, Philippines — The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) flagged nine individuals and groups allegedly linked to online efforts to disrupt President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address (Sona), officials said Wednesday.

CICC Undersecretary Aboy Paraiso said the agency placed its cyber monitoring operations on 24/7 status from Friday night until after the Sona, on Monday, deploying its monitoring and detection tools to identify credible threats against the annual address.

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According to Paraiso, some of the flagged individuals and groups allegedly sought to encourage the public to gather and create disturbances during the Sona.

“We have flagged nine individuals and groups… whose goal was to cause disruption and encourage our fellow citizens to engage in dissent or hold gatherings to disrupt the Sona,” he said in Filipino in an interview with Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.

Paraiso said the CICC immediately coordinated with law enforcement agencies after taking down the flagged online content.

“We quickly took this down, and not only that, we preserved the data and passed it on to law enforcement agencies,” he added.

He credited the coordination among government agencies for helping prevent possible disruptions during the President’s address.

Paraiso clarified that the CICC’s monitoring focused only on credible threats backed by actionable intelligence, and not on ordinary criticism or expressions of opinion online.

“We are not just monitoring simple threats, but credible threats and actionable intel,” he stated.

He also warned that individuals found to have violated the law could face charges under the Cybercrime Prevention Act and other criminal statutes, including those involving computer fraud, identity theft, inciting to rebellion or sedition, grave threats, and attacks on critical infrastructure when committed through information and communications technology.

Paraiso noted that offenses committed using information and communications technology may carry penalties one degree higher than those committed through conventional means.

He also reminded the public that while the government respects freedom of expression, such right does not extend to acts that violate existing laws.

“We respect that, especially in the CISS and DICD but for example, if you exceed your rights and violate a provision of the law, there will be a corresponding punishment,” Paraiso said in Filipino.  Rendell Ivan Manuel/INQUIRER.net trainee