NCC launches certification center

MANILA, Philippines - The National Computer Center (NCC) has launched the country’s first Digital Certification Center which is aimed at promoting and protecting electronic transactions.

Denis Villorente, NCC officer-in-charge, said the center is an integral component of the National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI) project of the government which started in 2006.

 “NPKI enables users of unsecured public network such as the Internet to securely and privately exchange data and even money through the use of a public and a private cryptographic key pair that is obtained and shared through a trusted authority,” Villorente said.

According to Villorente, the Philippines is one of the first few countries in Asia that signed an Electronic Commerce Act that aims to promote and protect electronic transactions.

However, he said, security and privacy issues hindered the country’s development of e-commerce and full use of e-government services.

In 2009, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order 810 titled, “Institutionalizing the Certification Scheme for Digital Signatures and Directing the Application of Digital Signatures in E-Government Services.”

It requires all government agencies to use digital signatures in their online services to ensure the confidentiality, authenticity and integrity of electronic transactions in government.

 “The NPKI would secure electronic commerce and electronic messaging as well as e-government programs since it requires the use of public key cryptography,” Villorente said.

In the middle of 2008, the government through the Commission of Information and Communication Technology (now Information and Communications Technology Office) with the Department of Trade and Industry and the NCC entered into an agreement with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) for the establishment of the NPKI in the Philippines.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS) was chosen as the pilot application system and the bureau as one of the registration authority.