MANILA, Philippines — The government should run after online scammers by strengthening the enforcement of data protection and privacy law, President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday.
While he welcomed developments in the e-commerce industry, Duterte a “borderless environment” calls for stricter regulatory controls.
“They expose consumers to various risks related to security, data privacy, and misrepresentation,” Duterte said in his fifth State of the Nation Address.
“We must patrol the country’s cyberspace and enforce online consumer and data protection and privacy laws. We must run after online scammers and those undermining the people’s trust in online transactions.”
“We must continue to protect Filipinos in the new normal and remind the world that we are responsible stewards of data. I am committed to protect both the physical and digital lives of our law-abiding countrymen,” he went on.
Experts noted gains in the Philippines’ e-commerce industry as a result of the quarantine measures being imposed by the government to curb COVID-19.