DATA privacy is going mainstream in the country. Protecting vital information has become a top priority in the operational agenda of most local companies, the head of National Privacy Commission (NPC) said.

“In the last two-and-a-half years since the Commission was organized under my watch, industry observers would agree that a lot of positive things have happened as far as data privacy awareness and compliance in the Philippines are concerned,” NPC Commissioner Raymond E. Liboro said during the Data Privacy Asia pre-event press conference held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel on Friday.

While more and more businesses now recognize the importance of data protection, he noted that some have started to demonstrate a mature level of adherence to the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

Liboro reported that, as of Tuesday last week, 22,816 data protection officers have registered with the NPC. Also, 2,939 personal information controllers and personal information processors have completed listing their organization’s data processing systems. The NPC has also received a total of 1,736 Annual Security Incident Report submissions.

Last year the Commission received at least five inquiries per month, reflecting a strong public awareness. Since then, it has processed a total of 657 complaint-related inquiries, breach notifications, and formal complaints, most of which were from 2018. This includes concerns brought before the NPC, Commission-initiated investigations and formal complaints. Of the totality, 443 have been resolved.

“What we’ve really done in the past two years is basically raise the state of awareness of our stakeholders,” he said.

The NPC chief cited fast-food companies Jollibee and Wendy’s as exemplary enterprises that prioritize the protection of their customers’ vital information.

Earlier, the Commission issued compliance orders to both firms, following the hacking incidence that involved their web sites. The former reported a data breach in December 2017, while the latter notified on April 23 that its portal was compromised, and the personal data of its users were gathered illegally and published on the Web.

On May 8 the Commission ordered an indefinite suspension of Jollibee’s online delivery platform so it could enforce ways to avert potential risks of violation of privacy.

“Jollibee is on the road to compliance; they just had a discussion with the investigation and technical team,” Liboro said.

Meanwhile, he said they will come up with a final ruling prior to the end of the third quarter of this year on their Facebook (FB) probe for privacy infringement.

The personal information of more than 87 million users of the social network worldwide were breached involving London-based Cambridge Analytics.

Next to the United States, the Philippines came in second in terms of the number of Facebook users affected, with a total of 1,175,312.

With Micah Hatulan