MANILA, Philippines — Senator Nancy Binay urged the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Monday to review the contracts of government data management providers following the passport data breach at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
In a statement, Binay called on the OSG “to review all contracts of government agencies with third-party software and data management providers, particularly those that concern any national database system.”
“We need to step up our standards when it comes to data protection and security lalo na’t ang may hawak ng data management ay 3rd party contractors (especially as the data is handled by third party contractors),” the senator said.
“We need to know which agencies are prone to data hostaging para di na maulit ang nangyari noon sa LTO at NBI where there was a stoppage of operations, and vital public services were affected,” she added.
(We need to know which agencies are prone to data hostaging so that what happened to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), where there was a stoppage of operations and vital public services were affected (won’t happen again.)
Binay also pointed out that the government should ensure that all contracts “have data privacy protection clauses.”
She added, “Kung wala pang existing clause ay dapat pong makipag-usap na ang OSG upang ma-amend na ang present contract (If there is no existing clause, the OSG should initiate talks to amend the present contract).”
“Bilang tagapangalaga ng datos ng mamamayan (As a guardian of citizen data), the government should protect the confidentiality of the data, and maximize all remedies to ensure that the data handled by contractors is returned to the government after the end of its contract,” Binay said.
DFA Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. revealed last Saturday that a previously outsourced passport maker took away all the passport applicants’ data after its contract was terminated. /ee
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