Last weekend, I stumble upon a Facebook page managed by the student body of a public high school in my city. The backstory was that I am checking on how the first week of class went to some of our football players.
At first, I was happy to see that the Supreme Student Government (as they call themselves; hoping that they are not related to the cup noodles) even took the initiative of posting the names of their “constituents” (students of the school) vis-a-vis their Grades and Sections. Then, I saw a couple of photos (yes, they took photos of the lists from their school’s bulletin board and posted them in Facebook) containing what appears to be ID Numbers, vis-a-vis Last Names, First Names, Middle Intials, Grades, and Sections of the students. I was alike: WTH was that for?
I tried contacting the student body by sending a private message to the Facebook page trying to clarify if those are really senstive information inadvertently posted in social media (on public). Here’s the response that I got from them:
Good day! Supreme Student Government is a legitimate student organization in the campus duty bound to cascade sets of information which are highly relevant to the students. SSG has a clear mandate to its constituent to deliver basic information but NOT to the point devulging private information. Names and sections being disclosed in the social media portals were part of its info campaign relative to opening of classes. With all due respect, We strongly suggest to you Mr. Robert “Bob” Reyes if you have point to clarify better lodge it to the school’s office so that proper investigation be done in relation to your point of an alleged violation of data privacy Act. Moreover, may We respectfully suggest as well that you don’t drag Mayor of Makati or her office because in a way you are becoming fallacious meaning illogical or in a sense as we have learned in our school “barking on a wrong tree”. Thank you. – xxx SSG
How dare you to ask me to clarify things with the school, when it was YOU, the student body, who posted that information online?
I think the response sent to me was triggered when I had this posted on my public Facebook wall:
I even joked in my comment (to my own post) tagging a friend asking him to advise the city mayor (well, it’s just me being me!). Then, a certain Regie Mark Magpayo left a comment on my post (on my personal Facebook wall), and it is where they put themselves in hot water…
The tone of Mr. Magpayo’s comment to my post is very similar to the response I got from the student body’s Facebook page. He asked me to complain of the school directly, instead of directing my concern to the school’s student body. Digging in further, it appears that he is the student government body’s current president, based on his Facebook profile.
Then came the epic response posted in the form of a comment left by no less than Atty. Francis Euston Acero, himself. Atty. Kiko Acero (as he is known) is the current Chief of the Complaints Division at the National Privacy Commission (NPC):
“…ay, ako pala yung imbestigador. Kung may alam ka ditohijo, magsalita ka na po.”
Going back to the original post on their Facebook page, a certain Mr. Vasquez replied to my comment (inquiring if those are indeed sensitive data of students). I would assume that Mr. Vasquez is the adviser of the student government body. He even tried to “lecture” me and Atty. Kiko that Facebook is not the right venue for airing a valid privacy concern. Then, the NPC left this comment in response:
It happened online last Sunday, 10 Jun 2018. It took the erring student body two (02) days to take down the post containing the sensitive data of their co-students (they even waited for Atty. Acero to leave the last comment in that thread). I now rest my case. The National Privacy Commission will take care of them. Let this serve as a lesson on how we should respect and protect sensitive data of other people.