House passes Data Privacy Act

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has passed on second reading the proposed Data Privacy Act, which seeks to establish fair practices and regulate the collection and use of personal details stored in the computer systems of the private sector and the government.

The approval came shortly after the House committee on information and communications technology, and the committee on government reorganization, endorsed the House Bill 4115 authored chiefly by House Deputy Majority Leader and Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo and Tarlac Rep. Susan Yap.

Romulo said the bill covers all entities and individuals involved in the gathering and processing of all types of personal information, and sets rigorous standards for, and controls on, the lawful culling, processing and retrieval of personal information.

The measure would prevent the misuse of personal facts in computer systems, including identity theft, reinforce consumer confidence in electronic commerce, and build up the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) activities that handle a great deal of personal information, he said.

“The bill is quite strong. For instance, if you are a credit card issuer, you are expected to adopt adequate organizational, physical and technical measures to protect your electronic files,” Romulo said.

“In the event of unauthorized access to the files of your cardholders, you have to alert the CICT (Commission on Information and Communications Technology) right away. Failure to issue a breach notification is enough to make you liable to pay a fine of up to P5 million per violation, to be imposed by the CICT,” he said.

He said “the punitive fine is without prejudice to possible criminal charges, once the Department of Justice ascertains that the failure (to issue a breach notification) was intentional.”

The measure also defines the rights of data subjects, or the individuals whose personal information are being compiled; and mandates the CICT as administrator of all electronic data privacy controls.