The Data Privacy Act will boost investment in the Philippines’ Information Technology- Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) sector according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP). 

BPAP president and CEO Benedict Hernandez said that the proposed data privacy law – which is based on European Parliament standards and is in accordance with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Information Privacy Framework – will bring the country up to international standards of privacy protection and will increase confidence among investors and clients that outsource to the Philippines. 

Hernandez explained that the IT-BPO sector – which according to BPAP generated $11 billion in revenue last year and generated 640,000 direct employment opportunities – is rapidly developing. Complex services, the BPAP official added, already account for more than 30 % of the IT-BPO industry’s revenues “and these services are growing more rapidly than voice services.” 

“Much of this work involves confidential personal and company information, and client firms of our IT-BPOs want to know that the Philippines provides international standards of protection to safeguard their information,” Hernandez said in an interview published in the Philippine Star. 

This kind of assurance of data protection, Hernandez added, will make the country’s IT-BPO even more competitive, which in turn will help sustain the industry’s growth, particularly in non-voice and value-added services. 

Authored by Sen. Edgardo Angara, the proposed Data Privacy Act aims to protect the confidentiality and integrity of personal data.