Andres Bonifacio College

Privacy

The Andres Bonifacio College (ABCollege) upholds your right to quality education, and continued engagement or involvement with the school activities and ceremonies, thus the school needs to process your personal and sensitive personal information—that is, information that identifies you as an individual.

The ABCollege ensures compliance with the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012 (DPA) in order to protect your right to data privacy.

This Policy explains in general terms the purpose and legal basis for the processing of the typical or usual examples of personal and sensitive personal information that ABCollege collects from alumni and students like you, in compliance with the DPA. This document contains the salient aspects of the Act.

Under the DPA, personal information may be processed (e.g. collected, used, stored, disclosed, etc.): 

• with the consent of the data subject, pursuant to a contract with the data subject;
• when it is necessary in order for the school to comply with a legal obligation;
• to protect your vitally important interests including life and health; 
• respond to a national emergency, public order, and safety;
• fulfill the functions of public authority or pursuant to the legitimate interests of the School or a third party; except where such interests are overridden by your fundamental rights.

Sensitive personal information (e.g. confidential educational records, age/birthdate, civil status, health, religious affiliation etc.) on the other hand may be processed with the consent of the data subject, when such is allowed by laws and regulations, such regulatory enactments provide for the protection of such information, and the consent of the data subject is not required for such law or regulation. For example, under the Education Act of 1982, parents have the right to access the educational records of children who are under their parental responsibility. Processing may also be done when needed to protect the life and health of the data subject or another person, and the data subject is unable to legally or physically express consent; in the case of medical treatment; or needed for the protection of lawful rights and interests of natural or legal persons in court proceedings; and for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; or where provided to government or public authority.

PERSONAL AND SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM STUDENTS, AND THE PURPOSE/S AND LEGAL BASIS FOR PROCESSING SUCH INFORMATION

Various offices of the ABCollege collect your personal information through paper based and online processing systems. It may likewise collect publicly available information about you. Some application forms require you to provide a photograph. 

When you applied for admission to the ABCollege, you provided us, through the forms you submitted and signed (and in the case of minors that your parents/guardians also signed), among others, your name, sex assigned at birth, date and place of birth, civil status, citizenship, your photograph, information about your family (names of your parents, their citizenship, civil status ), your signature and other personal information that we use, along with other documents you provide us (e.g. information contained in educational records) to be able to verify your identity in the course of your enrollment with the school. We required you to attest that the information that you provided us is true and correct as we also use the information in order to prevent the commission of fraud. Such processing is necessary for compliance with our legal obligation to uphold our legitimate interest as an educational institution. When you provide the school with the personal and sensitive personal information of third parties, you warrant that you have obtained their consent for it to process their information.

In order for ABCollege to exercise its right to academic freedom and to uphold academic standards under the respective government permits issued to each department, it processes the educational records and other personal information provided by prospective students to determine their eligibility to enroll. Thereafter, it can also evaluate the work that you submit in fulfillment of your academic requirements and give you grades; act on your applications for change of matriculation, dropping, leave of absence and the like; determine your academic progress and compliance with the school’s retention and other rules; evaluate and recommend you for graduation; act on appeals on such matters; and, in the event you are qualified under the rules, recommend that you be awarded honors upon your graduation; and such other cases such as the need of migration from Bachelor of Laws to Juris Doctor in a Conferment Ceremony.

Aside from sensitive personal information in the form of grades, you also provide ABCollege with health information as part of the admission and registration processes so that the school may determine your physical fitness to enroll; and obtain group insurance for health emergency and other services; or in compliance with school’s rules that are meant to uphold academic standards (e.g., submission of medical certificates in order for your absences to be excused, for you to drop a subject, go on leave of absence, or justify underloading in an appeal to graduate with honors, etc.).

The ABCollege  processes information regarding your religious affiliation in the course of verifying your identity (e.g. offices match information in your birth certificate and school records provided to us etc.) to conduct research to see to it that we uphold the principle of democratic access; and that, as a non-sectarian institution, we do not discriminate on the basis of religious creed; and to uphold your right to freedom of religion (e.g. by providing you with services that are consistent with your beliefs in relation to your health needs and food preparation, etc.).

ABCollege may process your personal and sensitive personal information in order to compile statistics and conduct research, subject to the provisions of the DPA and applicable research ethics guidelines, in order to carry out its objectives as a private institution.

Contact information is processed to be able to communicate effectively with you, and to enable us to contact your family or other people you identify, for further need of communication or in the case of an emergency. For example, our departments or your teachers may use the information generated by the applicable registration system in order to contact you via email or via a messaging system for class related and other academic matters, as well as School related activities and information. It may also contact you in order to solicit your consent to participate in academic or non-commercial research.

In some instances, the email or contact details may be used for communication purposes only, but may be disclosed to other members of the class so that other alumni or students to whom you may have disclosed your new email address, or other contact details, will be able to relay messages to you.

Your personal and sensitive personal information may also be processed in order for ABCollege to provide you with services, such as the issuance of your ID card, stickers or gate passes, library, health, counseling and guidance services and the like; facilitate the processing of applications for insurance and insurance claims; determine whether the student organization or association to which you belong may be recognized and given access to school services, etc., to enable your participation in student elections, internships, training programs, conferences, etc.; administer scholarships, grants and other forms of assistance, pursuant to the school’s contractual or legal obligations; or to protect your vitally important interests.

CCTVs when installed and other security measures which may involve the processing of your personal information are intended to protect your vitally important interests, for public order and safety, and pursuant to the school’s and the public’s legitimate interests. ABCollege processes personal and sensitive personal information in order to comply with its duty as an academic institution to exercise due diligence to prevent harm or injury to you or others.

You may also be required to present your ABCollege ID when you avail of school services, or when you request documents containing your personal and sensitive personal information.

If you request such information through a representative, ABCollege will require that you provide a letter of authorization specifying the information or document requested, the purpose(s) for which the same will be used, and the presentation of your school ID or other valid government-issued identification card, as well the valid government issued identification card of your duly authorized representative, in order for us to see to it that fraud is prevented, and your right to data privacy is upheld.

The ABCollege has a legitimate interest in securing its premises, its buildings including the School of Law at Felicidad I Building (GODECOST) and other assets and adopting means in order to provide services in a more efficient manner. It is also required under its permits to adopt measures in order to provide democratic access to its services. Rest assured that it will process the above information only for legitimate purposes, and for such periods allowed by the DPA and other applicable laws. It has adopted appropriate measures to safeguard your right to data privacy over your above-mentioned information.

ABCollege provides for the secure processing and, when applicable, secure archival of the educational record and other relevant personal information of its students that are needed to verify their identity so that we will be able to provide the proper transcripts, certifications, and other documents that current or former students or alumni may request as required by the Education Act of 1982, and comply with obligations to the ABCollege Alumni Association under its Charter. Unless otherwise provided by law or by appropriate ABCollege policies, we will retain your relevant personal data for  sixty (60) years from the time of collection or submission. The relevant application forms and supporting documents submitted by those who are not qualified to enroll in ABCollege, including those who are not accepted as shiftees or transferees, as well as qualified applicants who do not thereafter enroll are securely disposed of after five (5) from the time of collection or submission.

HOW ABCOLLEGE PROTECTS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Even prior to the effectivity of the DPA, it puts in place physical, organizational and technical measures to protect your right to privacy and is committed to reviewing and improving the same, so as to be able to comply, among others, with its obligations under the applicable provisions of the Education Act of 1982, which require us to keep your educational records confidential. From time to time ABCollege posts information on relevant sites and sends emails that explain how you can secure and maintain the confidentiality of your personal information.

ACCESS TO AND CORRECTION OF YOUR PERSONAL AND SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION AND YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE DPA

You have the right to access personal and sensitive personal information being processed by ABCollege about you. You may access your personal and sensitive personal information, for instance, through ABCollege information systems or request documents from relevant offices (e.g. the College Registrar or your Department Deans). In order for ABCollege to see to it that your personal and sensitive personal information are disclosed only to you, these offices will require the presentation of your ABCollege ID or other documents that will enable it to verify your identity. In case you process or request documents through a representative, in order to protect your privacy, ABCollege requires you to provide a letter of authorization specifying the purpose for the request of documents or the processing of information, and your ID or other valid government-issued ID, as well as the valid ID of your representative.

As mentioned above, ABCollege requires you to provide correct information. In the event that your information needs to be updated please follow the instructions found in the relevant website, or kindly get in touch with the proper College office(s). Please note that the correction of grades is subject to its rules and procedures.

Aside from the right to access and correct your personal data, you have the following rights subject to the conditions and limitations provided under the DPA and other applicable laws and regulations:

a. The right to be informed about the processing of your personal data through this and other applicable privacy notices;

b. The right to object to the processing of your personal data, to suspend, withdraw or order the blocking, removal or destruction thereof from our filing system. Kindly note however that, as mentioned above, there are various instances when the processing of personal data you have provided is necessary for us to comply with ABCollege’s mandate, statutory and regulatory requirements, or is processed using a lawful basis other than consent. In the case of your ABCollege ID it is your duty to immediately report the loss of such card to your College Registrar so that we can prevent the unauthorized use of the same;

c. The right to receive, pursuant to a valid decision, damages due to the inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, false, unlawfully obtained, or unauthorized use of personal data, taking into account any violation of your rights and freedoms as a data subject; and

d. The right to lodge a complaint before the National Privacy Commission provided that you first exhaust administrative remedies by filing a request with the proper offices or a complaint with the proper DPO through the email address indicated below regarding the processing of your information, or the handling of your requests for access, correction, blocking of the processing of your personal data and the like.

HOW WE OBTAIN YOUR CONSENT AND HOW YOU CAN WITHDRAW CONSENT

ABCollege obtains your consent for the processing of your personal and sensitive personal information pursuant to this privacy notice by asking you to sign the relevant form. If you are a minor, we will require your parent or guardian to sign the proper form. If you wish to withdraw consent, kindly write or send an email to the College Registrar at registrar@abcollege.edu.ph  and identify the processing activity for which you are withdrawing consent. Please attach a copy of your School ID or government issued ID so that the Registrar will be able to verify your identity. Note that consent may be withdrawn only for a processing activity/ies for which consent is the only applicable lawful ground for such processing. Kindly await your Registrar’s action regarding your request. Rest assured that once the Registrar confirms that you have validly withdrawn consent for a processing activity/ies the same shall be effective unless you thereafter send a letter or email to the Registrar that you are consenting to such processing activity/ies.

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REVISIONS TO THE PRIVACY NOTICE AND QUERIES REGARDING DATA PRIVACY

The ABCollege Data Privacy Portal is at https://abcollege.edu.ph/privacy.We encourage you to visit this site from time to time to see any further updates or revisions regarding this privacy notice. We will alert you regarding changes to this notice through this site.

If you have any Data Privacy queries or concerns as it relates to your student records, you may contact the Data Protection Officer through the following:

Address                                                                           Landline

Data Protection Office                                               +63 65 9175297

GPS Building, College Park                                        dpo@abcollege.edu.ph
7100 Dipolog City 

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