The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is asking Congress to pass a data privacy bill that supports the APEC data privacy guideline.

“On the principle espoused by the APEC privacy guideline which the Australia and New Zealand actually embraced, the Philippines along with ASEAN would like to embrace those as well,” said Oscar Sañez, chief executive officer of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

During a recent business forum, Sañez said such legislation could be anchored on the principles of continuous data flows and protection of data breaches.

“I think for the markets to fully trust offshoring and outsourcing services, there has to be a guideline institutionalized on data privacy. Key stakeholders support the APEC privacy principles.”

“It is not called out very specifically in the provisions of the FTA but this is an extension of E-Commerce Law that is quiet important for this sector,” he noted.

Sañez said the sector is strongly supporting investment protection, particularly in the information technology (IT) sector.

"This is the reason that the country has developed incentive programs related to IT investments. BPAP was also working with the government on strengthening the intellectual property law," he added.