DSWD taps NBI, DICT to probe hacking

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development has sought the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to probe the hacking of the DSWD National Capital Region office’s Facebook account.

The hacking led to the posting of a fake announcement about supposed distribution of cash aid under the DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).

On Friday, senior citizens, solo parents and students flocked to the DSWD NCR office to apply for the SLP.

Pinky Romualdez, director of the DSWD NCR office, clarified that there was no scheduled payout on that day.

Eduardo Punay, DSWD officer-in-charge, said the DICT has started retrieving the data of the hacked Facebook account following their request on Friday.

A senior citizen, who had been at the DSWD NCR office since Thursday morning, said a neighbor informed them that some people were able to apply for the program and may supposedly receive cash assistance of P10,000.

Punay said he asked the NBI cybercrime unit and DICT cybersecurity group to prosecute those responsible for the hacking.

He said fictitious text messages and fake Facebook announcements circulated after the Facebook page of the DSWD NCR office was hacked on Jan. 13.

The SLP is an “exit program” for conditional cash transfer graduates to allow them to have a sustainable livelihood once their monthly subsidies have stopped.