Scarborough Shoal, the next ONGPIN???

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An alarming news came out about few weeks ago, were apparently hackers from China defaced the official website of the University of the Philippines, where the said site featured a photo depicting China’s territorial claim of the Spratly Islands, particularly the Scarborough Shoal (or Huangyan Island), which has been the subject of a recent standoff between Chinese and Philippine naval forces. 

                                                                               

http://technology.inquirer.net/10063/up-site-hacked-over-scarborough-shoal

Obviously, this alleged act of China is considered as Hacking under the Philippine law. Now the question is, how can the Philippine government make China liable, if this issue would have been proven?  

Under Section 33-a of Republic Act No. 8792 or the “Electronic Commerce Act of 2000”, hacking is defined as:

“(a) Hacking or crackling with refers to unauthorized access into or interference in a computer system/server or information and communication system; or any access in order to corrupt, alter, steal, or destroy using a computer or other similar information and communication devices, without the knowledge and consent of the owner of the computer or information and communications system, including the introduction of computer viruses and the like, resulting in the corruption, destruction, alteration, theft or loss of electronic data messages or electronic documents…”(R.A. No. 8792)

The problem is that the act was committed by foreign citizen/s in the foreign land. Moreover, as far as the prevailing jurisprudence in Rustan Ang vs. Court of Appeals is concerned, which was decided on 20 April 2010, the applicability covered by the “Rules on Electronic Evidence” excludes the rule with respect to criminal proceedings. 

Clearly, Philippines has no particular law governing such act making China criminally liable. However, since the issue involves two different countries, on my opinion, International Court of Justice as well as the United Nations shall have the jurisdiction over the matter, where both Philippines and China are signatories to said international organization. Having said that, one of the remedies to consider is the COOPERATION of both parties pertaining the issue at hand. In addition to this, considering the fact that both countries are members of the United Nation where PEACE between and among members is the main objective, might as well go diplomatic and let the authorities decide about the territorial jurisdiction over the Scarborough Shoal.