THE British Chamber of Commerce Philippines has welcomed Congress’ adoption of the Senate’s third reading version of the proposed Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA).

The act has been noted as one of the priority measures under President Ferdinand R.  Marcos Jr.’s administration.

Having been approved by both Houses, AFASA is now awaiting the Chief Executive’s signature. As emphasized in the measure, it aims to protect the public from cybercriminals and fraudulent activities within electronic commerce and financial industries.

Executive Director and Trustee Chris Nelson of BCCP also called on its quick passage to support the country’s efforts toward strengthening its cybersecurity and digitalization efforts.

“Cybersecurity is a worldwide issue, and is not just impacting the Philippines. In that context, I would stress two key points: the first is the Cybersecurity Act and the [other is the AFASA, which] are both priorities of the government. We think that’s very important to get passed in this period,” said Nelson.

The BCCP official shared in an interview that “we had an event in March with one of our key members, CyberQ, [which highlighted the presentation by the Department of Information and Communications Technology]. Cybersecurity is a key issue particularly for the financial sector, but also across the whole area. We strongly urge the passage of those key legislations, which will reinforce and make the companies and the public even more aware of this key issue.”

In a statement, the British Chamber commends the efforts of the Philippine government in penalizing cyber-related crimes. It also emphasized on the significance of the growing relationship of the Philippines with the United Kingdom as one of the major players, and is known for its cybersecurity excellence.

The chamber looks forward to establishing closer ties and increased collaboration between the UK and the Philippines to further boost the latter’s cybersecurity posture.

See original article here.