Friday, March 29, 2024

First on Newsbytes.PH | Controversial cop Cesar Mancao named cybercrime center chief

Cesar Mancao, the controversial policeman who became a fugitive at one point after getting embroiled in the high-profile Kuratong Baleleng and Dacer-Corbito cases, has been appointed as executive director of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center (CICC).

File photo of CICC executive director Cesar Mancao (Photo credit: PNA)

A reliable source told Newsbytes.PH that Mancao, a known associate of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, assumed the CICC role a week ago.

The CICC executive director is supposed to be the cybersecurity czar in charge of formulating a national cybersecurity plan and extending assistance for the suppression of real-time commission of cybercrime offenses.

But Republic Act 10844 — the law that created the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) — transferred the functions of the CICC and its executive director to the DICT.

Thus, the main role now of the CICC is confined to just coordinating anti-cybercrime efforts among law enforcement agencies such as the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Last year, Newsbytes.PH reported that former DICT assistant secretary for cybersecurity Allan Cabanlong, who was also a former police officer, was in the running to become the CICC executive director.

The appointment did not materialize, however, as Cabanlong was effectively relegated to the sidelines after being booted out of his post by DICT secretary Gregorio Honasan.

Cabanlong — who oversaw the bidding and initial rollout of the P508-million Cybersecurity Management System Project, the country’s flagship cybersecurity initiative — has since put up his own cybersecurity consultancy firm.

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