IN comments during a radio interview on Sunday, Sen. Francis Tolentino made the alarming suggestion that cyberattacks be added as a condition that would trigger the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the US, 'considering that the battlefield right now is not just only about the conventional armed conflict.' While Tolentino's concerns about cyberattacks are justified, addressing them by way of the MDT is completely unnecessary and puts the Philippines at grave risk of becoming involved in an escalated conflict.

The term 'cyberattack' in the sense that the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is using it, refers to state-sponsored hacking of a country's critical computer networks, such as those used by the Defense department, other government offices, energy facilities, health care systems and communications, among others. The cyberattack can be an end in itself, aimed at stealing information and conducting spying, or to cause losses by destroying or disrupting vital services. Or it can be used as part of a broader war strategy to wreak havoc and degrade an enemy's ability to mount an effective defense.