FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-List Rep. Brian Poe questioned on Monday the National Bureau of Investigation’s lack of funding for agents or attachés stationed abroad as he called for stronger support for the bureau as it tackles an increasing number of transnational crimes involving Filipinos.
Under Republic Act No. 10687, specifically Section 7(F), the NBI is authorized to designate attachés or representatives in Philippine embassies abroad, Poe pointed out at the House Committee on Appropriations budget briefing for the Department of Justice (DOJ).
He noted, however, that the law requires the funding for such positions to come from the NBI’s own budget,
Asked whether an allocation for this purpose was included in the current year’s budget, NBI Director Melvin Matibag said there was none.
According to Matibag, the NBI has been hoping to address the lack of funding for overseas NBI representatives, as it considers the possibility of deploying attachés to selected areas abroad to work with foreign counterparts in tackling transnational crimes.
He noted that embassies from Europe and the United States already have counterparts in the Philippines who have assisted the NBI in pursuing cases that cross national borders.
Matibag welcomed Poe’s intervention, saying he hoped funding for NBI attachés could eventually be included in the bureau’s ‘wish list.’
More agents needed
But the NBI chief also underscored another pressing problem: The bureau needs more agents as it only has around 300 agents nationwide.
If the NBI wanted to deploy agents abroad, it would need to hire more.
‘This is quite alarming,’ Poe said, as he noted that the NBI has not ‘a single centavo’ of funding for even a single international representative to be attached to Philippine embassies abroad despite the growing number of cases with international links.
Poe cited the wide range of responsibilities now being handled by the NBI, including investigations involving the following:
Philippine offshore gaming operators or POGOs
scam networks
cyber fraud
online gambling
Interpol-related cases
human trafficking
online child sexual abuse or exploitation materials
‘The list goes on,’ Poe said, adding that Congress should seriously consider the issue during Congress deliberations on the proposed DOJ budget.
Accountability and law enforcement
Poe also linked the lack of overseas NBI representation to the broader issue of accountability and law enforcement, particularly in pursuing suspects and fugitives outside Philippine jurisdiction.
The government, he said, must ask how it could effectively go after international fugitives when the NBI has no dedicated funding for representatives abroad.
The proposed expansion of the NBI’s personnel and the possible deployment of attachés overseas could strengthen the Philippines’ ability to coordinate with foreign law enforcement agencies, share intelligence, follow cross-border criminal networks, and pursue cases that do not stop at the country’s borders.
Ensuring that the NBI has enough agents, eventually including representatives in key locations abroad, is not merely a matter of expanding the bureau, he said. It’s necessary to enable it to pursue criminals abroad.