DOJ starts training 150 investigators, prosecutors vs cybercrime

The government has started training more than 150 investigators and prosecutors in combating online offenses as prescribed in the newly signed Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.   “Our new Office for Cybercrime will soon be established even as we have trained more than 150 investigators and prosecutors in cyber forensics to modernize our skills and competencies,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said in her speech during the Department of Justice’s 115th anniversary celebration.   She said the organization will be “young and dynamic.”   At least six petitions have been filed — by netizens, activists, members of the academe and even politicians  — with the Supreme Court assailing the law, which President Benigno Aquino III signed last Sept. 12. The petitioners were asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order on the implementation of the law due to the supposed vagueness of its provision on online libel.   The law will be effective on October 3, Wednesday. A day before that, activists are set to launch “black protests” against the measure.   De Lima said the DOJ should not be blamed for the law's controversial provisions.   “Hindi sa amin nanggaling ang mga provisions na ‘yun [such as] the libel provision, the provision that gives us the take-down power. In fact, our position papers would show that we have actually questioned all that,” she told reporters at the sidelines of the event.   De Lima, however, said that even though they had initially objected to those provisions, the DOJ still has to implement the law.   “We have our law now and it is our duty to execute the law, unless otherwise declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court or unless repealed by the crafters of the law, the Congress,” she said. — Rouchelle Dinglasan/KBK, GMA News