ILIGAN CITY (PIA)–While a majority of the workplaces in the country are pursuing work-from-home and skeleton workforce arrangements amid this pandemic, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) continues to advocate faster and paperless transactions through the use of a digital certificate.
During the first session of the two-day Philippine National Public Key Infrastructure (PNPKI) users’ training organized by the DICT Mindanao 2 Cluster Thursday, November 4, DICT’s Jodelum Tuscano said the PNPKI is targeted to implement the intended secured document processing.
The PNPKI is a vital component of the e-Government Master Plan aiming to intensify the e-government security, supplying digital certificates among citizens.
To give clarity, she differentiated the regular and digital certificates saying the former is a document containing a certified statement especially as to the truth of something while the latter is issued by a certificate of authority as proof of an individual or machine’s electronic identity similar to identification cards such as passports and licenses.
Tuscano stressed that the digital certificate is also considered a public document, just associated with public and private keys distinctly covered under the asymmetric encryption which allows message authentication and non-repudiation, and detects tampering. Under this, the use of a digital signature is likewise promoted.
The DICT highlighted that both physical and digital signatures bear the same weight of validity but the employment of the latter is much more beneficial than the former. This is because digital signing, when used specifically through PKI, is protected against tampering, faster and more convenient, saves on costs such as document shipping and paper and ink expenses, can be tracked through a document tracking system, and cannot be faked with the installment of a personal password.
In line with this, DICT urged users to not share their passwords with others while they also suggest not to share their devices wherein the digital certificate is installed for security purposes.
While the use of digital signatures under the PKPNI is not compelled to each agency or sector, the DICT called on the adoption of the innovation, especially the government, seeing the benefits it can bring to document processing.
“Sana lahat ng department ng government ay gumamit na, iaccept na ang digital signatures under the PNPKI,” said Tuscano.
[I hope all departments of the government will already use [this], accept the digital signatures under the PKPNI.]
The DICT emphasized that application for the digital certificate is offered for free to both public and private agencies, institutions, and organizations. Interested applicants may complete the PNPKI online registration system (ORS) or download the application form through https://dict.gov.ph/pnpki and submit the duly filled form alongside the supporting documents at info.pnpki@dict.gov.ph. (CRG/PIA-Lanao del Norte)
