DOE Moves To Ensure Viability Of E-Vehicle Charging Stations

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi underscored on Tuesday the need to ensure the viability and safety of e-vehicle charging stations in gasoline stations.

Cusi cited the importance of the ground-laying work being done by an Ad-Hoc Technical Working Group (TWG) on the installation of the e-vehicle charging stations.

"We want the TWG to study the technical viability of the infrastructure, evaluate its safe operations by assessing the necessary protocols and standards, and to determine required policies and its supporting legal basis," said Cusi.

The Department of Energy (DOE) stands at the forefront of the government's promotion of alternative fuels and energy technologies, he added.

"The Technical Team must make recommendations on the advancement of e-vehicle charging stations and related infrastructures, such as other viable options for locations like malls and other establishments."

Cusi said safety and accessibility are also major considerations on where to put up e-vehicle charging stations.

Cusi created the TWG to determine the suitability of gasoline stations as charging areas for electric or e-vehicles with the emergence of the electric vehicle industry in the Philippines.

The TWG is co-chaired by the DOE-Energy Utilization Management Bureau and the DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau.

The DOE is in the process of drafting a circular for the policy guidelines in the overall development and increased utilization of alternative fuels and energy technologies, which includes the e-vehicle industry.

"I have to stress that this venture should be in compliance with existing environmental, safety and other relevant rules and regulations,” he added.

“Apart from increasing public awareness, the DOE in coordination with relevant government agencies will create an environment for the equitable and non-discriminatory access for alternative fuels and energy technologies with preference for indigenous ones. In the end, we seek the support of our kababayans to look into this endeavor and look into ways to enable our country to ably compete and create wealth for every Filipino,” Cusi concluded.

Lenovo Strengthens Commitment to Education Sector Through Think University

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Lenovo Philippines’ launches its latest project, Think University which aims to provide schools with the latest technology to help in crafting the minds of the students and give the school, administrators, and teachers an up-to-date method of communicating and interacting with its students. Recently, Lenovo signed with Colegio San Agustin – Binan and FEU Diliman, donating 10 units each of ThinkCentre Tiny. The universities were qualified to join the program when they availed a specific number of computer units from Lenovo.

“Lenovo believes in empowering the youth through education. Think University is one of our avenues in helping our youth experience a richer kind of learning. We hope that our devices will help these universities and colleges in delivering the right response to the changing needs of the students,” said Michael Ngan, Country General Manager, Lenovo Philippines.

Above photo shows FEU Diliman signing up to be a part of Lenovo’s Think University. (Seated L-R) Janine Librea, LE-Commercial Segment, Anna Abola, Marketing Communications Manager of Lenovo Philippines, Albert III R. Cabasada, Executive Director, Ann V. Hidalgo, Director for Administration of FEU Diliman. (L-R Standing) From FEU Diliman: Christine Magturo, Ma. Cecilia A. Michael, Lucila S. Sison, Maribel B. Ruiz.

“Higher learning institutions in Philippines should consider joining Lenovo’s Think University in order to have a technological competitive advantage with regards to re-designing curriculum and classroom instruction,” said Christine M. Magturo, Systems Administrator, FEU Diliman. 

NPC Starts Probe Into COMELEC's 2nd Large Scale Data Breach; Issues Compliance Order

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The National Privacy Commission (NPC) has ordered the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on Monday to take serious measures to address its data processing vulnerabilities after the computer of the Office of the Election Officer (OEO) in Wao, Lanao Del Sur was stolen last January 11, 2017.

The stolen computer contains data from the Voter Registration System (VRS) and Voter Search applications, and the National List of Registered Voters (NLRV). The stolen data also contains biometric records of registered voters in Wao, Lanao del Sur.

In its initial probe, the NPC discovered that all COMELEC field offices across the country maintain their own soft copies of the NLRV, which contains the personal information of roughly 55 million voters.

The NLRV database was also used in the Precinct Finder application, which was exposed in last year’s COMELEC website data breach.

“This is already COMELEC’s second large-scale data breach in a span of less than a year—a case of a database being breached twice under different circumstances. This time, it involves actual large-scale biometrics data of voters in a municipality. The Commission is very concerned especially since there’s on-going voter registration nationwide. We will delve deeper into the problem to possibly recommend other measures for Comelec to implement to protect voter data nationwide,” said Privacy Commissioner Raymund Enriquez Liboro.

“This breach illustrates that there are many ways to lose personal data. That is why data protection is not only an IT security issue involving firewalls. It’s a governance matter that covers organizational and physical measures to protect data. In this case, failure to secure the very computer containing personal data can be just as disastrous. If the COMELEC won’t address the problem systemically, this will happen again and again,” Liboro added.

In its Compliance Order dated February 13, 2017, the NPC directed the poll body to erase all copies of the NLRV in the COMELEC’s computers in the different municipalities and cities, if the COMELEC cannot secure the database using appropriate organizational, physical and technical measures.

The privacy watchdog is also tasking the poll body to notify all data subjects affected by the personal data breach within two weeks. Individuals with records in the NLRV may be notified by COMELEC through publication in two newspapers of general circulation. The COMELEC is also being directed to individually notify the data subjects with records in the VRS in Wao, Lanao Del Sur.

Within two weeks, the poll body is also tasked to submit to the NPC its “proposed and implemented revisions” in the voter registration process, considering the Data Privacy Act of 2012, its Implementing Rules and Regulations, and other related NPC circulars.

The poll body is also being required to submit the status the measures it intends to implement in addressing this personal data breach, as outlined in its report to the NPC.


THE STOLEN COMPUTER

At around midnight of January 11, 2017, unidentified persons reportedly stole the desktop computer of the COMELEC’s OEO in Wao, Lanao Del Sur.

Seventeen days later, on January 28, 2017, COMELEC Executive Director Jose M. Tolentino notified the NPC of the data breach.

The data breach exposed information in the NLRV and the Voter Search application, and the detailed voter registration records of registered voters of Wao, Lanao del Sur.

The NLRV contains approximately 75,898,336 records as of October 17, 2016. Of these, 55,195,674 are active voters and 20,703,662 are deactivated voters.

The VRS contains a total of 58,364 registration records for Wao, Lanao del Sur. Of these, 40,991 records are for registered voters for the coming barangay elections (as of October 19, 2016), and 17,373 records are for the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections (as of September 13, 2016).

The COMELEC identified 35,491 active records for the barangay elections, and 17,336 active records for the SK elections.

While the COMELEC claims the data in the database is encrypted, the COMELEC admitted that “[I]f the robber will be able to gain access to the VRS, and to decrypt the VRS and the NLRV data, the personal data might be used by unscrupulous persons for purposes other than those legitimately intended.”