Manila: President Benigno Aquino III has signed into law a measure that makes it mandatory for public and private sector data collectors to protect the confidentiality of all information they collect concerning an individual.

Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012 was signed into law last Aug. 15 and will take effect several weeks from now.

Citing the advantages of the measure, Senator Edgardo Angara explained that all data collectors are compelled to protect the security, integrity and confidentiality of all the personal information they collect such as medical records, insurance records, confidential correspondence and copyright protected works.

“The President’s approval is an unequivocal sign that the country is taking the necessary actions to become a functioning knowledge-based, ICT (Information and Communications Technology)-driven economy,” Angara said.

Angara said the new law would greatly benefit the country’s booming Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry and increase the public’s trust on the government’s e-governance initiatives.

The Philippines had been trying to make strides in integrating dealings involving the government with modern advances in information and data transfer technologies.

“Of course, the enactment of the law is only the first step. The greater challenge lies in its implementation and its long-term enforcement. Privacy and IT experts will have to be trained. Implementing rules and regulations will have to be crafted and promulgated,” Angara said.

The new law mandates the creation of the National Privacy Commission an agency that will serve as central clearinghouse of all types of personal information including personal information controllers and processors not established in the Philippines. “The law also protects journalists, publishers and their sources,” the palace said in a statement.

Public interest

Earlier there had been concerns that the measure will go against the right of the public to information and privacy.

But Angara said the framers of the Data Privacy Act had gone to great lengths to ensure that will not happen. “We refined the measure further so that it cannot be used to curtail the flow of information that may be of public interest, without infringing on an individual’s right to privacy,” Angara said.

“No less than our Constitution upholds press freedom and the media’s function of responsible reporting,” Angara said as he dispelled the impression that the measure will threaten the freedom of the media in the country.

The Data Privacy Act, however is just one of three-inter-related measures proposed by the Senate Commmission on Science and Technology (COMSTE) to usher in an IT revolution in the country.

“The Cybercrime Prevention Act will have to be enacted, as we still lack a legal framework for the detection, apprehension, and prosecution of such Internet-related crimes as hacking, identity theft, phishing, spamming, and child pornography,” he said.

Aside from this, he added, a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) must be created to allow government to efficiently allocate human and financial resources necessary for the integration of ICT in the more efficient delivery of social services.

“Taken together, these three measures will place our country in a very good position to chart its own path in this increasingly digital world,” Angara said.