Question & AnswerQ&A (EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 189)
The Cybersecurity Inter-Agency Committee is chaired by the Executive Secretary, with co-chairs being the Director General of the National Security Council (NSC) and the Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) was created under Republic Act No. 10175, also known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. Its role includes formulating and enforcing the national cybersecurity plan and creating the national computer emergency response team.
The functions include assessing national cybersecurity vulnerabilities, issuing updated security protocols, enhancing public-private partnership in information sharing, conducting strategic planning, directing cybersecurity measures, coordinating international cybersecurity efforts, and performing other necessary functions as directed by the President.
The NCCC acts as the secretariat of the Cybersecurity Inter-Agency Committee. It is composed of officials from member agencies and houses the National Computer Emergency Response Team (NCERT), which oversees government data handling guidelines and compliance.
CERTs are teams organized by all government bureaus, offices, agencies, and instrumentalities to handle cybersecurity incidents. They operate under guidelines issued by the CICC and report directly to the CICC.
After EO No. 189, the CICC, which is attached to the Office of the President, is placed under the administrative and policy supervision of the Cybersecurity Inter-Agency Committee.
Members include Secretaries of the Departments of Energy, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Local Government, Justice, National Defense, Transportation and Communications, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), Presidential Communications Operation Office (PCOO), as well as the Commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Chairman of the National Privacy Commission (NPC), and Executive Director of the Anti-Terrorism Council Program Management Center (ATC-PMC).
Member agencies are authorized to charge necessary amounts against their current appropriations. Additional funds may be identified by the Department of Budget and Management, and subsequent funding requirements are incorporated into the agencies' annual budget proposals through the General Appropriations Act.
EO No. 189 contains a separability clause that provides if any provision is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the other unaffected provisions shall remain valid and subsisting.