Data is considered an essential element in developing sound policy decisions. For local government units (LGUs), understanding how to access, manage, and secure data should be a critical part of their daily operations. Learners who want to understand data concepts and their governing policies can now enroll in a free online course called PRIDE (Policy & Research Institute for Development) developed by Action for Economic Reforms (AER).
PRIDE is a virtual repository of knowledge products that learners can easily access to get information on how to use data for planning and implementing policies at the local level. A course on Data Governance, the third in a series of training modules, discusses Data Infrastructure, Architecture and Management. The course also delves on the important issues of Data Security, Data Privacy, and Freedom of Information (FOI).
Ms. Arlene Romasanta, OIC Director IV for the Management Information System Service (MISS) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), discussed the basics of Data Infrastructure consisting of data assets, people, processes and technologies; as well as Data Governance or the process of managing data in an enterprise in relation to its use, access, and protection. She also reiterated that “data is a shared asset, but data security should always be in place.”
Ms. Romasanta showed some examples of threats to data security including external (competitors, hackers, cybercriminals); internal (untrained staff, disgruntled employees); and other factors (fire, power outages, connectivity losses). To guard against these threats, she also shared some best practices in Data Security such as controlling employees’ access to an organization’s data and information systems; and having a Disaster Recovery Plan that focuses on restoring data access and IT infrastructure after a man-made or natural disaster.
On Data Privacy, Mr. Jam Jacob, the first policy head of the National Privacy Commission and currently the Data Protection Officer of the Ateneo de Manila University, lectured extensively on RA 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012. He discussed the criteria for the lawful processing of data, data privacy principles, as well as the rights of people when it comes to the collection, disclosure and handling of their personal information. Mr. Jacob also stressed the importance of having a Data Protection Officer to ensure that organizations comply with relevant data protection laws and policies.
Atty. Eirene Aguila, co-convenor of the Right to Know Coalition, discussed the Freedom of Information (FOI) or the principle that individuals and the public-at-large have the right to access information held by the government. She said that as a general rule, government information is owned by the people, and should be easily accessible. While there is a potential conflict between balancing FOI and the right to privacy, she said that “the right to information founded on public interest is not automatically cancelled out by the right to privacy. There are mechanisms that will allow the free flow of information, open sharing of information, open access, and easy disclosure without sacrificing the right to privacy.”
Some of these mechanisms include anonymization, aggregation, de-identification, sanitation, and redaction of data. To access the online course and PRIDE platform, sign up here: https://certified-edu.org/.
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Action for Economic Reforms (AER) was established in 1996 and is a policy research, advocacy, and action group by publicly-engaged political economists with focus on various sectors from fiscal policy, food and agriculture, industrial policy, governance, interface, and data-driven development.
PH3D, a component of AER’s data-driven development focus and co-funded by the European Union (EU), helps Local Government Units (LGU) deliver their priority projects using data and technology, and community alliances. Using this framework, LGUs will have access to actionable evidence that will empower them to view macro and micro data, prioritize programs, manage resources, enhance capacity, and get support from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).