DND welcomes House OK of New Espionage Act

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of National Defense (DND) on Friday welcomed the House of Representatives’ approval of the proposed New Espionage Act, which, the agency described as “critical and [a] long-overdue modernization of antiquated laws.”

House Bill 9642 was approved on third and final reading Thursday night by 247 favorable votes against 10 unfavorable.

“For decades, our legal framework has been dangerously ill-equipped to handle modern, asymmetric security threats,” the DND said in a statement, adding that the proposed measure is needed to provide the government with “indispensable legal tools required to disrupt malicious actors and protect our national secrets … [and] critical infrastructure.”

Article continues after this advertisement

READ: House passes anti-spying bill amid civil rights concerns

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

The proposed law also seeks to penalize unauthorized handling or disclosure of classified information that could harm the country.

‘Expeditionary navy’

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Friday said it supports the call by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. for the development of an “expeditionary navy.”

Retired Navy reservist Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, AFP spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, noted that the country is “an archipelagic nation that relies on the seas as our lifeblood, [thus] the shift toward a blue-water, expeditionary capability is a natural and necessary evolution of our national defense posture.”

“This directly aligns with the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, which mandates the projection of capabilities to protect our domain, defend our sovereignty, secure our sovereign rights across our maritime borders and safeguard our sealanes of communications,” he said. /das