The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) has directed government agencies to avail of the use of the Philippine National Public Key Infrastructure (PNPKI) service of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), that utilizes digital signatures in signing official documents.

The DICT’s PNPKI service is being pushed to be adopted by state agencies to secure online transactions and communications in the new normal, according to the memorandum circular released last Aug. 27.

PNPKI allows users of public networks to exchange important data in a secure manner.

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A public key infrastructure (PKI) is a system that converts information into a cipher or code wherein only the sender and receiver have authorized access. This is done to safeguard classified documents and data.

Guidelines

“With ARTA’s help, we expect more government agencies to use digital signing of documents and avail of our PNPKI services,” DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said in a statement.

Honasan said the DICT has earlier offered its PNPKI services to various agencies to help them adopt to new work arrangements and the new normal in public service delivery.

On April 6, the DICT released a guidelines on the application and issuance of PNPKI digital certificates for external clients during the state of public health emergency.

“With the threat of virus transmission still looming, utilizing ICT and PNPKI in online transactions is one way of helping prevent further transmission of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019),” Honasan added.

Recently, reports said that 97% of the Office of the Solicitor General’s workforce are already using DICT’s PNPKI services.