Law not an excuse to withhold data of nCoV cases’ co-passengers, says commission

The Data Privacy Law should not prevent the Department of Health (DOH) from securing air passengers’ contact details for purposes of contact tracing, the chairman of the National Privacy Commission (NPC) said on Tuesday.

Raymund Liboro said such information was vital to keep the health and safety of the public in light of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

“The Data Privacy Act (DPA) of 2012 is not meant to prevent the government from processing personal and sensitive personal information when necessary to fulfill their mandates,” Liboro said.

“Rather, it aims to protect the right to data privacy while ensuring free flow of information. What the DPA does is to promote fair, secure, and lawful processing of such information,” he added.

The privacy agency chief made the statement after Health Secretary Francisco Duque III blamed Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines—which carried the country’s two confirmed cases of nCoV—for the slow contract tracing of individuals exposed on their flights. 

“Airlines are not sharing the contact details of the passengers. They are invoking confidentiality," Duque said on questioning by Senator Nancy Binay, who pressed the issue of the slow contact tracing.

“I’m told that these airlines are invoking the Data Privacy Act, I don’t know how. This is rather strange in a time of urgent situation, I do not understand why this is the case but I think that has to be investigated," he added.

PAL, however, is denying Duque’s claims as it insisted that the airline shared contact details of passengers in the concerned flight.

Cebu Pacific is yet to comment on the Health chief’s allegations.

“While data privacy is a right, it is not an absolute right. The same should always be harmonized vis-à-vis the requirements of public order and safety, and to protect the life and health of the data subject or another person,” Liboro said, citing the Section 12 D and E of the DPA.

“If a government agency pursuant to its constitutional or statutory mandate, requests airlines to release passenger manifest, the same is allowed under the Data Privacy Act of 2012,” he added.

The NPC chief said that in response to critical health issues such as the nCoV, the DOH had the mandate, purpose and the necessity to collect and process personal data to uphold the public welfare.

“Therefore, nothing should prevent airline companies from releasing relevant passenger data to competent and mandated authorities like the Department of Health,” Liboro said.

The Privacy chief, however, said the NPC recognized that the passenger manifest to be disclosed with the pertinent government agencies may pose privacy risks to individuals.

“While the Data Privacy Act 2012 will not stand as an obstacle to the fulfillment by public authorities of their constitutional and statutorily mandated functions, the DPA nonetheless serves as a reminder of the need for data protection in order to assure that rights of data subjects will be protected,” Liboro said.

The DOH said that a 38-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, China tested positive for the virus on Thursday last week.

On Saturday, the 44-year-old Chinese male companion of the woman died due to nCoV.

The Chinese couple arrived in the country from Hong Kong on January 21.

They were admitted at the San Lazaro Hospital on January 25.

Cebu Pacific flights flew the Chinese couple from Hong Kong to Cebu while a Philippine Airlines flight brought them to Dumaguete City. —NB, GMA News