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Rainier Allan Ronda - The Philippine Star
April 3, 2025 | 12:00am
In a March 31 memorandum, Aguda said “until any action is taken by the undersigned on the submitted courtesy resignations, all undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and directors shall continue to report for work and perform their usual duties and responsibilities, subject to any further instructions and modifications that the undersigned may deem proper to adopt.”
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — Newly assumed Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda has ordered all incumbent undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and directors to submit their “unqualified courtesy resignations” no later than April 4.
In a March 31 memorandum, Aguda said “until any action is taken by the undersigned on the submitted courtesy resignations, all undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and directors shall continue to report for work and perform their usual duties and responsibilities, subject to any further instructions and modifications that the undersigned may deem proper to adopt.”
A DICT source said there was also an instruction for the officials to refrain from giving media interviews regarding the issue.
Malacañang announced the appointment of Aguda, a former president and CEO of UnionDigital Bank, to the DICT top post last March 20.
Scam figures
Meanwhile, while text scam messages in the country saw a notable decrease, scam calls saw a steep rise in the first quarter of the year, according to a new study.
Gogolook, developer of the global anti-scam app Whoscall, said they have monitored 648,239 short message service (SMS) scams in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 2,079,968 in the fourth quarter of 2024, marking a 68.83 percent decline.
Additionally, there was a 43.3 percent year-on-year reduction, down from 1,143,268 SMS scams reported in the first quarter of 2024.
In stark contrast, scam calls experienced a significant surge during the same period.
Whoscall data revealed a 74.32 percent increase in scam calls in the first quarter of 2025, reaching 351,699 compared to the 201,760 recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The year-on-year growth is even more alarming, with a 225.17 percent rise from the 108,157 scam calls reported in the first quarter of 2024.
According to Mel Migriño, Gogolook Philippines country head, the reduction in scam text messages can be attributed to effective reporting mechanisms, increased public awareness and proactive collaboration among government agencies, civic advocacy groups and the private sector.
“We believe the ‘Whole-of-Society Approach,’ as advocated by Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center executive director Alexander Ramos, has been instrumental in the decline of SMS scams,” Migriño said at a press briefing.
However, the rise in scam calls suggests that scammers are adapting their tactics, necessitating continued vigilance and adaptive countermeasures.
