Rights groups have warned the public of possible police profiling and invasion of data privacy following an incident of cops gathering personal information in a town in Camarines Sur. 

Karapatan secretary general Tinay Palabay said the public should be informed of the dangers of police profiling in social media. 

“We caution the public on providing sensitive personal information without knowledge on declared specified and legitimate purposes, as stated in the National Privacy Act of 2012,” Palabay said in a statement. 

The warning came after Karapatan reported that the Camarines Sur police were asking young people in Lupi town for fill out forms. According to the group, their office received information about forms being distributed by the Kabataan Kontra Droga at Terorismo (KKDAT) in Lupi that asked for the individual social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok.

Voluntary only

However, Police Lieutenant Ronilo Albuera, chief of Lupi station, said the forms were not required to be filled out and were only given to applicants of the KKDAT. 

“Optional lang ‘yun. Voluntary lang. Kung ayaw nila mag-accomplish, hindi po namin pinipilit (It’s only optional. Voluntary only. If they don’t want to accomplish, we don’t force them),” Albuera said in a phone interview with Rappler on Tuesday, July 13.

Despite this, Palabay told the law enforcers to respect public’s privacy. “We likewise call on authorities to respect people’s right to privacy and against profiling which arbitrarily infringes on citizens’ liberties.”

On the legal aspect, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) president Edre Olalia called the police’s act an incursion of privacy. 

“Assuming the authenticity and ownership of the document, this is again another brazen incursion and invasion on basic rights to privacy, communication, association, liberty of abode etc. with no compelling public interest or cogent legal basis to stand on,” Olalia said in a statement. 

According to the NUPL president, the latest action of the Camarines Sur police was a discreet way of profiling. 

“It is simply blanket profiling and slothful police intelligence work via subtle coercion, intimidation and threat of prejudicial consequences if there is non-cooperation, non-disclosure, inadvertence or mistake,” Olalia added. 

The police have been previously accused of profiling. At the height of community pantries’ popularity, some organizers complained about alleged monitoring and profiling by the police.

Must Read

Parlade admits profiling of community pantry organizers

However, the PNP immediately denied the allegations and said it did not order the profiling. – Rappler.com