LOS BAÑOS, Laguna (PIA) – Enhancing the knowledge of the public in digital skills and utilizing it for their livelihood has been one of the priority projects of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Laguna Provincial Office as they continue to organize a series of capacity development sessions in different sectors across the province.
During a training session held in Los Baños, Laguna on March 8, representatives from senior citizens, persons with disability (PWDs), out-of-school youths and adults, solo parents, academe, transportation, local government, and the private sector were tapped by the DICT and the municipal government of Los Baños for training sessions on Canva layout design, smartphone photography, and cybersecurity awareness.
Hazel Pagao, provincial officer of DICT Laguna highlighted the importance of digital literacy awareness, especially for vulnerable and marginalized groups, as they are the sectors being targeted by cyber criminals.
“It is important to spread digital literacy, especially for marginalized sectors so that’s what we are doing here in DICT Laguna. It is also beneficial for us to maintain a close coordination and partnership with our local government units so that they can effectively tap the participants for our sessions,” Pagao stated.
Emma Izon, principal of Tuntungin Putho Integrated National High School and one of the participants of the training, said that it is important to continuously enhance their knowledge especially on new trends in the digital space.
She added: “For cybersafety, although we already have the ideas from what we teach to our students, we were given new insights outside of our school. In total, this workshop enhanced our capability and capacity on digital skills.”
Izon commended DICT for also including out-of-school youths as they are often neglected in capacity development training.
“This is a great initiative, especially for our out-of-school youth because they have no knowledge of it through our schools and they have limited exposure to technology so they will benefit greatly from this,” she added.
Although not ‘technology savvy’ Jaime Robillon, chairman of a local transport cooperative in Los Baños, said that the program is a big help for his organization as they will be able to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in the training for the cooperative’s day-to-day operation.
“This is very timely for us because we are starting to craft our own quality management system, operation management system, and accounting system that will guide us for our operations. Now, we will also know how we can safeguard the documents of our organizations from scamming and other cyberattacks,” Robillon said.
Los Baños Councilor Miko Pelegrina, the local partner of DICT for the training, supports the conduct of capacity development sessions for groups in a bid to foster inclusivity and add financial opportunities for the attendees.
“The idea and vision for this is to invite knowledgeable resource persons who will share their wisdom to attendees. People will know more through these sharing sessions, so I am hoping that it will be shared as well to marginalized sectors,” Pelegrina explained.
According to the DICT, the common cyber threats being observed in the country are malware attacks, supply chain attacks, spoofing and hijacking credentials, password attacks, phishing, and business e-mail compromise, and through the sessions they share techniques on how to avoid falling prey to the said cybercrimes.
Pagao calls on the public to do their part and be responsible online users by always being vigilant, by thinking before clicking, and by verifying facts and information before doing their transactions. (CH/PIA-Laguna)
