DIAZ: Sometimes security is inversely proportional to efficiency. Security was actually heightened after 9-11. And a lot of the requirements now are coming off regulations that came after 9-11 like Sarbanes -Oxley. Banking is supposed to be a high-risk security area but not in the same level for companies like Dole.

In credit card companies, for example, they try to measure the fraud first and try to measure it statistically. But definitely, our top priority is plugging all these loopholes because we cannot afford the risk. At the end of the day, it's all about the trust. Our business is not money, but peace of mind and our currency is trust. If you don't trust, you will not bank with us. Foremost in our minds is to protect our customers' interest.

Technology is an enabler to all of this. So we push the edge of the envelope but at the same time realizing that doing that we expose ourselves to certain risks and we have to keep on measuring these risks. But there are certain areas wherein you don't know what measurements will be.

CW: In your view, what will 2006 be like in terms of IT in the Philippines?

DELA CRUZ: In gaming there will be more challenges. The first two years (for Level Up) was just actually a wake-up call. More MMORPGS (massively online role playing games) are being developed -- totally different from other platforms and involves thousands of people playing at the same time. I'm pretty sure that correspondingly, the amount of customer support and security issues involved will increase and management of infrastructure will be more challenging. We now have seven games and we're launching more.