Davao City set to approve its own employees' digital signatures under PNPKI

Davao City is poised to become an independent Registration Authority for the Philippine National Public Key Infrastructure (PNPKI), allowing the city government to approve, renew and update digital signatures for its own employees without going through the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), according to Mindanao Times.

The measure authorizes the city mayor to sign a Memorandum of Agreement between the city government and the DICT. Councilor Bonz Andre Militar, who chairs the committee on information and technology and is the measure's proponent, said the move would make Davao City the first local government unit in the country, and only the second entity after the University of the Philippines system, to hold Registration Authority status.

Militar said the proposal came from the City Archives and Records Office (CARO), which wants to speed up approvals and avoid delays in signing important documents. At present, CARO only assists applicants with forms and verifies their identities before endorsing applications to the DICT central or regional office for approval.

According to Militar, that process often suffers from significant backlogs because of staffing constraints at the DICT, with approvals delayed for months and several accounts expiring as a result. Once the city operates as a registration entity, he said, applications would be processed immediately after basic requirements are met.

"Once the Mayor signs the authorization, implementation will begin immediately," Militar told reporters, adding that employees would undergo orientation and training, backed by a budget for the needed infrastructure.

The committee report noted that most heads of city offices already hold digital signatures, which are especially useful for high-volume priority services such as permits and licenses. Militar said the signatures let officials securely sign batches of documents with a single approval.

The DICT describes the PNPKI as an infrastructure that secures communications among individuals and government agencies, providing authentication, confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation for signed documents. Militar said any unauthorized change to a signed document automatically invalidates its embedded signature. Responding to security concerns raised in committee discussions, officials said no breaches or data compromise involving PNPKI digital signatures have occurred since the system was first deployed in the city.