Government offices urged to use DICT service for electronic transactions

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is encouraging various government institutions to utilize the Philippine National Public Key Infrastructure (PNPKI) as the prevalence of work from home arrangements increase the need to ensure confidentiality and authenticity of electronic transactions and documents.

The DICT  has reached out to the Civil Service Commission, Commission on Audit, Supreme Court, House of Representatives and the Senate for the use of its PNPKI services.

“PNPKI allows users of public networks to exchange important data in a secure manner. PNPKI proves to be very useful during this time where most government offices are in work from home arrangements,” said DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan.

DICT’s PNPKI services were initially offered to the Department of Justice-National Prosecution Service for conducting electronic and online inquest proceedings, as well as to the National Economic and Development Authority—Regional Development Council Northern Mindanao for securing electronic documents.

“We are in a state of crisis and it is the duty of the DICT to ensure security in electronic and online transactions among our institutions.  We shall take strengthened measures to support the collective vision of our government, through the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, in its battle against COVID-19.” Honasan said.

Operating the PNPKI is one of the core services of the DICT that aims to encourage the public and private sector to adopt the use of digital certificates.

Digital certificates serve as a form of authentication or proof of identity, allowing people to sign, save and email official e-documents securely, and therefore facilitating faster remote work transactions.

DICT operates the root certification authority and government certification authority for the processing and issuance of digital signature certificates.

This is part of the government’s effort to institutionalize the application of digital signatures in e-government services.