MANILA — The National Privacy Commission (NPC) will be conducting its year-long advocacy campaign to create public awareness on data privacy rights.
The initiative which will be called the “Privacy, Safety, Security and Trust (PSST!) Online seeks to equip Filipinos with information and self-help tools that they can use to protect themselves from the risk of data breaches when using online applications and services on their mobile and desktop devices.
NPC Commissioner Raymund Liboro said the commission seeks to train data protection officers that will monitor the compliance of various organizations that are handling and processing personal information with data privacy laws.
“Companies and organizations should show their commitment to comply by appointing data protection officers,” Liboro said in a press conference on the launching of the Privacy Awareness Week held Monday at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).
“Data privacy is about demonstrating that you are accountable. Companies must be able to show their privacy notices, privacy statements and policies, etc. Are they training their employees on how will they be able to respond when data breaches occur? These are just some of the manifestations if they are serious in complying with the law,” he added.
A data protection officer (DPO) is an employee of Personal Information Controllers (PICs) and Personal Information Processors (PIPs) or organizations processing personal data which ensure proper data breach and security incident management; inform and cultivate awareness on privacy and data protection; ensure conduct of privacy impact assessments, among others.
The DPO should be knowledgeable on relevant privacy or data protection policies and practices as well as processing operations of PICs and PIPs.
The NPC is also set to conduct Privacy Compliance Sweeps or random checking of websites of companies to determine if these are secured from any data breaches. Its results will be used as basis for further probes and full-scale compliance checks.
The Privacy Awareness Week is an annual international event that seeks to draw public attention towards privacy issues and the importance of protecting personal information.
For this year, the NPC will hold the first National Data Privacy Conference of DPOs from various sectors across the country on May 28 and 29 at the PICC with the theme “Protecting the Filipino’s Right to Data Privacy.”
Among the highlights of the conference is the NPC Trust Encounters, the first of a series of dialogues which aims to create understanding between the public and those who handle their personal data. Google Inc. will be conducting the pilot dialogue.
Around 2,000 DPOs are expected to join the event comprising of delegates from the academe, civil society, top corporations and the government. (Aerol John Pateña/PNA)
