MANILA, Philippines — Privacy watchdogs and lawyers called out the police over their profiling of makeshift markets known as community pantry that was well-documented in social media, but belatedly denied to have happened by authorities.
“We would like to emphasize that collective personal data must be done fairly and lawfully with respect to the rights of a data subject, including the rights to be informed and object,” the National Privacy Commission said in a statement on Tuesday.
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“Should there be a need to collect personal information to maintain peace and order, it must be accomplished with transparency, legitimate purpose and proportionality,” it added.
The sprouting over the weekend of community pantries, which offer donated goods to the needy for free, has caught the eye of the government that over the past two days, issued contradicting statements on the noble advocacy.
On Monday, several accounts of organizers in social media showed the police asking them to fill up personal information sheets, triggering fears of arrest as own police social media accounts began tying the selfless act during the pandemic, and amid state failure to rollout sufficient aid, to communist rebels. This red-tagging was also the same reason that Anna Patricia Non, who initiated the first community pantry, closed down the market on Tuesday to the detriment of the poor.
Despite online accounts by information gathering, General Debold Sinas, chief of the Philippine National Police, denied the PNP is monitoring community pantries for suspicious activities. “There is no order from the national headquarters to conduct any form of profiling of organizers of community pantries,” he said.
“It is beyond the interest of the PNP to delve into purely voluntary personal activities of private citizens,” Sinas added.
Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano backed up Sinas claims. “As long as the intention is good and without political color, it should be encouraged and supported,” he said separately.
Yet official statements did little to assuage fears of the common public only out to extend help to people unable to get proper sustenance from the government, over a year since the pandemic started. The NPC itself said the PNP should take reports of privacy concerns seriously.
“We call on again the attention of the PNP Data Protection Office to look into these reports and take appropriate measures to prevent any doings of its personnel on the ground that could potentially harm citizens and violate their rights,” NPC said.
Lawyers requested to help out
For Edre Olalia, president of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, a group that offers free legal assistance, pantry organizers are not obliged to give their personal data when approached by cops. Yet while this is true, instances of people getting intimidated by men in uniform are also prevalent, thereby making them prone to giving out information almost unwillingly.
“As a matter of fact, it is in violation of basic constitutional rights,” Olalia said.
Neri Colmenares, chair of Bayan Muna, warned in a letter addressed to fellow lawyers that the red-tagging and profiling of community pantry organizers “creates an atmosphere of fear, a chilling effect, on those who are merely helping out.” He also asked lawyers and law students to set up makeshift centers near community pantries to offer quick legal assistance when needed.