Ortigas, Pasig — “In this digital day and age, while data is and will become your best ally towards a data driven business model, we have to respect the data privacy of all our data subjects.” said course instructor Atty. Jpee Hernandez at the recently concluded first run of the Data Privacy Officer Foundational and Certification Course. “We should maximize benefits while minimizing the harm.”

Hernandez led the first run for the new training workshop, which is a comprehensive industry-standard course for those appointed as data protection officers (DPOs) of their respective organizations.  Currently an Assistant Vice President and Deputy Data Protection Officer for one of the Philippines’ biggest universal banks, Hernandez has also served as former chief of staff to the Deputy Commissioner at the National Privacy Commission (NPC).

The course was conducted over the course of five online weekend sessions from April 30 to May 22 through the collaboration of the Center for Research and Communication with the UA&P’s Department of Information Science and Technology.

“It’s not easy to administer a course like this, especially in a time of pandemic when all of us are online,” Atty Hernandez noted. “We always of course prefer face to face training because it’s easier and we [prefer to get to know the participants better. But despite all of these challenges,] this certification course was a success for all of us.”

The course was designed to equip its participants in the different areas of data privacy, including: the history of privacy and of changes in business models using data; the National Privacy Commission’s “5 Pillars on Data Privacy“; ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and other best practices including privacy by design; treaties that affect the practice of data privacy in the Philippines such as  GDPR, CCPA, PIPEDA etc.; and so on.

The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Philippines’ Data Privacy Law, RA 10173 came into effect in 2016, and it required companies to appoint Data Protection Officers within their organizations who would be responsible for protecting the personal data of its stakeholders, and assuring compliance with Philippine Privacy Laws, issuances, and guidelines.

The law effectively created an entire new profession – the Data Protection Officer. But there are still very few institutions giving potential the appropriate training to new DPOs, so there is a great need for certification courses in the new field of Data Privacy which are relevant to the Philippines’ policy environment for privacy.

Hernandez emphasized, though, that the training aimed not only to certify the participants, but also capacitate them “to become accountable, compliant, and of course most especially ethical DPOs.”

Individuals interested in future runs of the Data Privacy Officer Foundational and Certification Course can email [email protected] to get updates when the course will be conducted again. • | RE de LEon | CRC ||

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