THE Credit Information Corp. (CIC) announced last May 18 it will host a webinar series in partnership with the National Privacy Commission (NPC) on credit registry and data privacy.
The CIC said that in celebration of the upcoming Privacy Awareness Week, the sessions will discuss the rights of Filipino borrowers as well as how they can protect their personal information online pursuant to Republic Act (RA) 9510 also known as the Credit Information System Act and RA 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
“Through these sessions, we look forward to sharing with Filipino borrowers that access to their CIC Credit Reports can help them stay informed of their credit standing and guide them towards making sound credit decisions,” CIC President and CEO Ben Joshua A. Baltazar was quoted in a statement as saying.
The webinar will feature as resource speakers CIC Paralegal Hans Antoni Lazaro and NPC Information Technology Officer II Cleo R. Martinez.
“The CIC is one with NPC in its campaign to further strengthen the data privacy awareness and knowledge among the general public. This is in line with our efforts to also combat predatory lending from illegal online lending platforms [OLPs]. The CIC continues to receive numerous complaints and concerns regarding violations of data privacy,” Baltazar said. “Unfortunately, these were facilitated by apps employing surreptitious means of securing borrowers’ permission without their full consent.”
In a recent survey commissioned by the NPC, while Filipinos with Internet access have increased awareness and knowledge on internet security, most still lack enough knowhow to protect themselves from cyber threats.
“The CIC hopes that through this webinar and future CIC Academy webinars, participants will be better informed and more vigilant in sharing their data and personal information online,” Baltazar added.
The CIC Academy is the educational flagship program of the CIC, which aims to raise awareness on the rights of the Filipino borrowers and to promote the benefits of the credit information system to the Philippine economy.