Privacy commission to probe cellphone number leak of Ms. Earth bets

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) said Tuesday it would look into "potential data privacy violations" related to the supposed sexual harassment experienced by some Miss Earth beauty queen aspirants.

NPC said it has issued a letter to Carousel Productions Inc., the organizer of Miss Earth beauty pageant, on the alleged disclosure of one of the contestant's cellphone number without her consent, and the supposed confiscation of her passport.

The commission noted that their database showed no record of the organizer's data processing system, hinting possible negligence in the adherence to the NPC's set of data protection standards.

"We note with dismay that your records do not appear in our database of registered personal information controllers, and you do not have a data protection officer registered with the Commission," NPC said in the letter addressed to Carousel.

The Commission required the beauty pageant organizer to provide the following within five days from receipt of notice:

• The name of Carousel Productions, Inc.'s data protection officer and its NPC registration details;
• An explanation as to the reported disclosure of the mobile phone number of one of the Miss Earth contestants to a sponsor;
• An explanation of the process surrounding Carousel's processing of the data of the contestants’ passports; and,
• A copy of the company's privacy management program and existing policies and procedures for its collection, use, access, disclosure, storage and disposal of personal data, including organizational, physical and technical security measures.

"When personal data is not safeguarded properly, problems would definitely arise and oftentimes escalate out of proportion," NPC chairman and Privacy Commissioner Raymund Enriquez Liboro said.

"The first step in doing that is to appoint a DPO (Data Protection Officer), as required by law. Every organization has to have someone whose job it is to ensure that the personal information they have been entrusted with remains private and safe from potential misuse," he added.

Last week, Miss Earth Canada Jaime VandenBerg vented out in Instagram how she was harassed by one of the pageant's sponsors who was asking for sexual favors.

VandenBerg said that on the second day of the pageant, the sponsor got hold of her cellphone number without her consent and used it to call her and ask which hotel room she was in.

She said her passport was also "confiscated" during the pageant.

The contestants from England and Guam also came forward and shared their sexual harassment experiences.

Lorraine Schuck, vice president of Carousel Productions, said she was not immediately informed about the incident and that the issue might have been resolved otherwise.

"So galit na galit ako sa mga team managers kasi kung ako tinawagan nila at may incident na ganoon, ipu-pull-out ko lahat because I won't allow that to happen," she said. — Dona Magsino/ LDF, GMA News