The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) is the primary intelligence gathering and analysis arm of the
Government of the Philippines
The Government of the Philippines ( fil, Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and d ...
in charge of carrying out overt,
covert
Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret.
Secrecy is often controvers ...
, and
clandestine
Clandestine may refer to:
* Secrecy, the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups, perhaps while sharing it with other individuals
* Clandestine operation, a secret intelligence or military activity
Music and entertainme ...
intelligence activities. The NICA cooperates with friendly countries and government agencies in and out of the country by posting agents as liaison officers.
The NICA is led by a Director-General, who reports directly to the
President of the Philippines
The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of t ...
, and is assisted by a Deputy Director-General.
[PROVIDING FOR THE CREATION OF THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE COORDINATING AGENCY.](_blank)
Retrieved on July 24, 2007 Its headquarters is located in
Quezon City
Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...
.
The National Intelligence Committee, chaired by the Director-General, serves as the advisory body of NICA.
[. Retrieved on December 27, 2007.]
History
Founded in 1949, the NICA was created by President
Elpidio Quirino
Elpidio Rivera Quirino (born Elpidio Quirino y Rivera; ; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the sixth president of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953.
A lawyer by profession, Quirino enter ...
under the authority of
Executive Order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of th ...
No. 235. In 1954, the Government Survey and Reorganization Commission ordered the expansion of the powers of NICA.
The agency was reorganized in 1958 under Executive Order No. 291 by President
Carlos P. Garcia
Carlos Polestico Garcia (November 4, 1896 – June 14, 1971) was a Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist, guerrilla and Commonwealth military leader who was the eighth president of the Philippines. A l ...
.
The NICA was abolished on September 16, 1972, by President
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
under Presidential Decree No. 51, and was replaced by the National Intelligence and Security Authority (NISA), which was designated as the principal intelligence agency, and the Civil Intelligence and Security Agency (CISA), which was tasked with counterintelligence and supervision of all civil security units in Philippine government offices.
The NISA was then headed by Gen.
Fabian Ver
Fabian Crisologo Ver (born Fabian Maria Trinidad Juan Cirilo Crisologo y Ver; 20 January 1920 – 21 November 1998) was a Filipino military officer who served as the Commanding Officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under President Ferd ...
and was alleged to be responsible for various
human rights abuses
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
, primarily during the
martial law period. The regime of President Marcos, through Gen. Ver, was believed to have used NISA to spy on, abduct and eliminate persons opposing the
autocracy
Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...
of President Marcos in the 1970s and the 1980s.
In 1987, shortly after the
People Power Revolution
The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...
which had led to a peaceful removal of President Marcos from office, his successor President
Corazon Aquino
Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; ; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipina politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People P ...
issued Executive Order No. 246 which abolished NISA and CISA and reestablished NICA.
The NICA then refocused its priorities in tackling the
communist insurgency in the Philippines
The history of communist armed conflicts in the Philippines is closely related to the history of Communism in the Philippines, with various armed conflict linked to the armed wings of the various communist organizations that have evolved since 1930 ...
.
In 1990, the National Security Advisor was given responsibility to oversee management and control of NICA to be responsive to the needs of the President and the
National Security Council
A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...
.
NICA agents were responsible for the arrest of several
Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf (; ar, جماعة أبو سياف; ', ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based i ...
members, including
Al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
-linked bomber Abdulmukim Edris.
In 2005, the agency established two directorates to conduct
economic intelligence and
counterintelligence
Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
activities.
On February 1, 2006, President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the House Deputy Speakers since 2022, and previously from 2016 to 2017. She previously ...
issued Executive Order No. 492, which ordered the NICA to activate the National Maritime Aerial Reconnaissance and Surveillance Center (NMARSC). The NMARSC was designated as the primary
imagery intelligence
Imagery intelligence (IMINT), pronounced as either as ''Im-Int'' or ''I-Mint'', is an intelligence gathering discipline wherein imagery is analyzed (or "exploited") to identify information of intelligence value. Imagery used for defense intelli ...
provider for the Philippine
intelligence community and was tasked to operate
unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
s under the supervision and oversight of the National Security Adviser.
On March 6, 2007, President Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9372, also known as the
Human Security Act of 2007, which designates the NICA as the Secretariat of the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC).
In 2018, then-
House of Representatives Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas
Rodolfo "Rudy" Castro Fariñas, Sr. (born September 5, 1951) is a Filipino politician and the former Majority Floor Leader of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and represents the 1st District of Ilocos Norte, the Philippines. Fa ...
filed House Bill No. 7111, also known as the Foreign Electronic Surveillance Act. The bill would have allowed NICA agents to covertly conduct electronic surveillance operations against foreign countries, terrorists and private groups without the need of having a
warrant or a
court order
A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out o ...
in an emergency situation.
A warrantless operation outside the Philippine territory would also need the approval by the Director-General of the NICA and the Secretary of the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
(DOJ).
However, since it was not enacted by the end of the
17th Congress, the bill is already considered "dead" in the House of Representatives
Committee on National Defense and Security.
On June 3, 2020, President
Rodrigo Duterte
Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945), also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson ...
signed Republic Act No. 11479, also known as the
Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020
The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, officially designated as Republic Act No. 11479, is a counter-terrorism law intended to prevent, prohibit, and penalize terrorism in the Philippines. The law was passed by the 18th Congress of the Philippines, 18 ...
, which repealed the Human Security Act of 2007. Pursuant to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, the NICA remains as the Secretariat of the ATC. However, NICA has also now been tasked to provide its recommendation on an application for
proscription
Proscription ( la, proscriptio) is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (''Oxford English Dictionary'') and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated ...
seeking to declare any individual or group as a
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
before the
Court of Appeals
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
. Such application for proscription may only be filed by the DOJ, subject to the authority of the ATC.
Mandate
The NICA is mandated to:
* conduct and coordinate national intelligence activities;
* fulfill strategic intelligence needs of the Philippine government;
* provide the National Intelligence Estimate for purposes of national security policymaking;
* lead counterintelligence activities;
* serve as the Secretariat of the Anti-Terrorism Council; and
* serve as the Head of the Situational Awareness and Knowledge Management Cluster of the
National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is a task force organized by the government of the Philippines to respond and raise awareness to the ongoing communist rebellion in the Philippines.
Background
The Na ...
.
Organization
The NICA is organized into the following divisions and directorates:
* Office of the Director-General – led by the Director-General
* Directorate of Operations – led by the Assistant Director-General for Operations
* Directorate of Production – led by the Assistant Director-General for Production
* Directorate of Administration – led by the Assistant Director-General for Administration
* Management and Planning Office
* Office of the Comptroller
* Various field stations in
various regions – led by its respective Regional Directors
Notable Directors-General
* Gen.
Fabian Ver
Fabian Crisologo Ver (born Fabian Maria Trinidad Juan Cirilo Crisologo y Ver; 20 January 1920 – 21 November 1998) was a Filipino military officer who served as the Commanding Officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under President Ferd ...
was believed by
human rights group A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awareness ...
s to have used the NICA's precedessor, the National Intelligence and Security Authority (NISA), as the
secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
of the regime of President
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
, leading to various
human rights abuses
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
committed against persons opposing the
autocracy
Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...
of President Marcos in the 1970s and the 1980s.
* Col. Vicente S. Yumul and Gen.
Jose T. Almonte
Jose T. Almonte was the National Security Advisor and Director-General of the National Security Council in the Cabinet of Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos. held office as the Directors-General of NICA under President
Corazon Aquino
Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; ; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipina politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People P ...
.
* Alfredo Filler, the former Vice Chief-of-Staff of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ( fil, Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas) are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy (including the Marine Corps). The P ...
(AFP), also served as the Director-General of NICA under President
Fidel V. Ramos
Fidel Valdez Ramos (, ; March 18, 1928 – July 31, 2022), popularly known as FVR and Eddie Ramos, was a Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was the only career military ...
.
References
External links
*
{{External national intelligence agencies
Philippine intelligence agencies
Government agencies under the Office of the President of the Philippines
Government agencies established in 1949
Intelligence analysis agencies