SENATOR Richard Gordon pushed for a Senate inquiry on the reported cybertheft on government employees, especially teachers.

The chairman of the Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee said in Senate Resolution 987 that the upper chamber must investigate the rising cases of missing money from the bank accounts of government employees.

“The Senate must spearhead an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on strengthening existing pertinent legislation on cybersecurity in close cooperation with law enforcement… to adequately protect the Filipino people, particularly those most vulnerable and the financial security of their persons and families essentially relying on our collective cybersecurity,” Gordon said.

Some teachers recently complained about unauthorized withdrawals from their payroll accounts in Land Bank of the Philippines.

Teaching and non-teaching personnel said they were victims of a phishing scam.

Phishing is defined as the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal their personal information such as passwords or credit card numbers.

In an interview, Teachers’ Dignity Coalition Chairman Benjo Basas said that 20 teachers and DepEd personnel reported unauthorized transactions in their Land Bank accounts. He added that the amount of money lost ranged from P160,000 to 200,000.

Gordon said that the state must serve and protect the Filipino people especially now that criminals are using technology to pilfer from the people’s savings.

“The Senate is compelled to act on the vicious commission of cybercrimes against the Filipino people, particularly against teachers and other public servants, private employees, and businesses taking away their hard-earned savings, violating their financial security, assaulting their cybersecurity, and disregarding their rights,” the senator said.

Gordon cited the Cybercrime Prevention Act which states that there is a need to protect and safeguard the integrity of computer and computer systems, networks and databases from misuse, abuse and illegal access.

He urged his counterparts in the House of Representatives to expedite the passage of a bill mandating subscriber identification module card registration.