MANILA — The House Committee on Revision of Laws, chaired by Rizal Rep. Emigdio Tanjuatco III, approved the subcommittee report on the proposed New Espionage Act during a joint meeting with the House Committee on National Defense and Security.

The approval covered a substitute bill consolidating House Bills (HBs) 812, 1457, 1844, 2793, 3023, 4202, 4886, 6177, 6183, and 7201, all aimed at modernizing the country’s outdated espionage law.

Rizal Rep. Tanjuatco said the proposed New Espionage Act seeks to address evolving and increasingly complex threats to national security, emphasizing that it was crafted through rigorous deliberations and close inter-committee coordination. He added that the measure balances modernization with safeguards for constitutional rights and democratic freedoms.

“It reflects our collective effort to protect the state, its institutions, and its people, without undermining the democratic freedoms we are sworn to uphold,” Tanjuatco said.

1TAHANAN Party-list Rep. Nathaniel Oducado, vice chairperson of the national defense panel, said the measure reflects a unified effort to strengthen the country’s ability to protect national security while remaining faithful to the Constitution and democratic principles.

The proposed law expands the definition and scope of espionage, strengthens the protection of classified information and critical infrastructure, recognizes cyber and other technological threats, applies extra-territorially, and imposes stricter penalties. These include life imprisonment without parole or good conduct time allowance, as well as fines ranging from P10 million to P20 million.

Negros Occidental Rep. Javier Miguel Lopez Benitez, in his explanatory note for HB 2793, noted that existing espionage statutes are limited and outdated.

“Currently, Philippine law remains limited in scope and outdated… they do not adequately address cyber-enabled surveillance, interference in democratic processes, or the use of proxy actors and technology-based tools for strategic infiltration,” Benitez said.

San Juan City Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora, head of the technical working group, said the substitute bill was approved after two subcommittee meetings attended by representatives from the Department of Justice, Department of National Defense, Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Security Council, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, UP Law Center, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

During the joint meeting, the panel also approved a substitute bill consolidating HBs 1748 and 4373, which seek to create the Code Commission of the Philippines, mandated to review and codify Philippine laws.