SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian stressed the importance of signing bilateral agreements with other countries to help deter cybercrimes.

The senator admitted that he was shocked by the recent report that the Philippines is the second most vulnerable to cybersecurity threats particularly online sexual abuse and exploitation against children.

He asked Department of Information and Communications Technology officials what steps they are taking to remove the country in the list of most vulnerable countries to cyberattacks.

DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said he hopes to get the necessary tools to identify cyber criminals and malicious content.

“A few weeks back, I saw in the news there’s a sexual exploitation of children case in Manila. I heard that it was a tip or information coming from abroad. In my mind, bilateral relationships with developed nations are important,” he said.

“Do we have bilateral relationships with these countries formally? Because these are the things we enact quickly in order to improve communication and coordination,” Gatchalian asked.