NBI cyber units chiefs switched

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 22, 2022): NBI cyber units chiefs switched (By Benjamin Pulta)

The official internal investigation in the Cybercrime Division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI-CCD) remains pending even as new personnel have been designated in the meantime, the agency's spokesman said Wednesday.

In a message to newsmen, NBI Deputy Director and spokesman Ferdinand Lavin said the NBI “is still waiting for the outcome of the IAD (Internal Affairs Division) investigation” on the alleged anomalies in an operation last May.

Lavin said that, in the meantime, Atty. Michelle Valdez is now chief of the NBI’s Digital Forensic Laboratory (FDL) switching posts with Special Agent Christopher Paz who is now Chief of the Cybercrime Division (CCD).

The movement of the personnel was in the “exercise of executive and management prerogative of the (NBI) Director,” Lavin said.

Valdez had been acting NBI-CCD chief following Victor Lorenzo’s promotion in March as assistant regional director and head of the Cybercrime Investigation and Assessment Center (CIAC).

Earlier this month, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra gave the green light for the relief of Lorenzo pending an internal investigation over an alleged anomalous operation as standard operating procedure whenever any NBI official or agent is under investigation by the internal affairs division in order to preserve the evidence and preclude any undue influence during the investigation.

Guevarra said the actual details of the incident involving Lorenzo’s unit are still sketchy but that it involved an operation in Manila involving the service of a warrant to search, seize, and examine computer data in a certain establishment in Manila last May 31 where some supposed irregularities were purported.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1177293