My encounter with the President that reinforced why cybersecurity matters

DECODED: TECH, TRUTH, AND THREATS

By Art Samaniego

When the President and the First Lady visited the Manila Bulletin office, I was there to give a quick demo of how the Rokid AI Glasses work. I brought my copy of the National Cybersecurity Plan 2023-2028, hoping to ask the President to sign it. While waiting, the First Lady glanced at it and said, “Hey, you are reading the National Cybersecurity Plan.” I was caught off guard because I did not expect her to notice. The President heard her looked at the book and said, “Ah yes, that is important.” I did not want to start a discussion and risk putting him on the spot, so I simply asked, “Mr. President, can you sign this for me?”

He smiled and said, “Of course,” then added something that made my jaw drop. As he signed above his name, he said, “You know, even the problem of the lack of cybersecurity professionals will be solved by this.” That was the exact point former Usec Jeff Dy and I discussed before, that this plan can address the country’s cybersecurity workforce shortage.

It showed me that the President is fully aware of the cybersecurity challenges the country is facing today, and that he understands the significance of the plan more than I have assumed and our encounter just lasted about one minute.

What concerns me now is that DICT Secretary Henry Aguda seems to have forgotten about this commitment of the president.

That brief encounter made it clear that PBBM understands the cybersecurity challenges we face and the significance of the plan more deeply than many might assume. Which is why it is disappointing that DICT Secretary Henry Aguda seems to have forgotten what this plan represents. As former DICT Usec Jeff Dy reminded everyone, “the NCSP 2023 to 2028, signed by the President as Executive Order 58 series of 2024, is proof that cybersecurity is supposed to be a priority of this administration. The plan was drafted with the private sector and the academe over nine iterations, a level of collaboration that made it one of the most grounded and realistic cybersecurity roadmaps the country has ever produced.”

If the NCSP had been followed, we could have solved many of the issues we are dealing with today. Instead, it appears that the DICT under the leadership of Secretary Aguda lost its focus and began pursuing its own set of initiatives that were not built on a strong cybersecurity foundation. The failed Cyberdome is a clear example, created as a kind of PR centerpiece rather than a genuine cybersecurity strategy capable of deterring attacks on government infrastructure.

The country already had a solid, carefully built roadmap that only needed leaders willing to carry it out. The NCSP was never meant to be a ceremonial document. It was designed to fix long-standing gaps, protect government systems, and build the cybersecurity workforce we desperately lack. What happened instead was a detour driven by vanity projects and short-lived PR stunts that did nothing to strengthen national security.

It is not too late to correct course, but it demands leadership that understands the gravity of our digital vulnerabilities and respects the years of work poured into this plan. The NCSP is still there, waiting to be implemented phase by phase. The only question now is whether the DICT will honor the President’s own commitment or continue chasing projects that look good on stage but do nothing to defend the country.