Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 27) — The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday maintained that its order to local units to submit a list of teachers who are members of a union availing of the Automatic Payroll Deduction System (APDS) does not violate data privacy law.
“It is our position na walang violation ng data privacy dito, walang (there is no violation of data privacy here, no) issue of any breach as far as data privacy is concerned,” DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa told CNN Philippines’ The Source. “It’s already information that they gave to DepEd because that is part of being accredited in the APDS, so there is consent.”
He also assured teachers the data collected will be only used within the offices in DepEd and will not be given to a third party.
Last week, members of the Makabayan bloc filed a resolution condemning the DepEd’s June 14 memorandum ordering the submission of names of teachers affiliated with the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).
The lawmakers alleged the memo was to profile the members of the teachers’ group and that it violated the Data Privacy Act.
ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said the order has instilled fear among their members.
“This document can be used against us, na gamitin to go after our members,” Basilio said. “They should not deny these things are not happening because it is. Sa monitoring namin, the conduct of these military and police forums in schools ay directly pinapangalan kami.”
[Translation: This document can be used against us, this can be used to go after our members. They should not deny these things are not happening because it is. In our monitoring, they directly name us in the conduct of these military and police forums in schools.]
DepEd has denied the profiling claims, saying that the purpose of the order was to centralize and update the agency’s Human Resource Systems.
“There is also no profiling issue because these are readily available in our regions, it’s just that hindi consolidated ‘yung data (data is not consolidated) that’s why we are asking our regions to update what they have been giving us,” Poa pointed out.
The education official said these data will be used to look into the complaints the central office has been receiving. One of the issues raised was some teachers receiving deductions in their salaries even when they are no longer members of a union, he noted.
Prior to the memorandum covering members of ACT, Poa said the same orders for other groups were already issued.
