UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES (UP) PRIVACY NOTICE FOR STUDENT LEARNING ASSISTANCE SYSTEM

To exercise and safeguard academic freedom, uphold your right to quality education and perform its functions under RA 9500, the University of the Philippines (UP) needs to process information that identifies you as an individual. UP is committed to comply with the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012 (DPA) in order to protect your right to data privacy.

This notice explains in general terms the purposes and legal bases for the processing of the personal data (personal and sensitive personal information) that UP collects from users of the Student Learning Assistance System (SLAS), the measures in place to protect your data privacy, and the rights that you may exercise in relation to such information.

The term UP/University/us refers to the University of the Philippines System and Constituent University offices.

The term you/your refers to SLAS users and , where the context so indicates, persons authorized by UP students to submit information via SLAS for and in their behalf.

PERSONAL INFORMATION PROCESSED THROUGH SLAS, THE PURPOSES AND LEGAL BASES FOR PROCESSING SUCH INFORMATION

The UP System Office of Student Financial Assistance under the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, which is in charge of administering the SLAS , collects your personal data through the online processing portal for SLAS. UP students who do not have internet access are allowed to submit paper based applications for SLAS.

The OSFA, in coordination with the Student Affairs and Services units of the Constituent Universities, composed of the Offices of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSAs) and the Offices of Student Affairs, may organize fact finding teams to check the information submitted by SLAS users applying for assistance.

The above CU offices oversee the application, screening and referral activities at the CU level.

In case you visit a UP Campus in order to use University facilities e.g. computer laboratories, WiFi etc to submit and check on your online application your image may be captured by UP's CCTV cameras.

When you submit your SLAS application, you provide us through the forms you submit and sign (and in the case of minors, that your parents/guardians also sign), among others, your name, sex assigned at birth (male/female), gender identity, date of birth, and civil status, citizenship, your student number, the UP CU you will enroll in, College or School, Degree program and area of study.

We also ask if you are a member of an Indigenous People’s group and/or if you have any physical disability or condition. Aside from using such information to verify your identity as indicated above, such processing is also done pursuant to Section 9 of RA 9500 http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2008/04/19/republic-act-no-9500/ which requires UP to take affirmative steps to enhance the access of disadvantaged students to the University’s programs and services.

UP also processes information about citizenship as only Filipino citizens are qualified to be receive learning resources assistance.

We compare the above information with other information in the custody of the University in order to be able to verify your identity and prevent identity fraud.

Contact information (e.g. landline, mobile number, current address, email addresses etc) is processed by UP in order to be able to communicate effectively with you and to enable us to contact your household in case UP needs to verify your submitted information. As a general rule, UP will inform you regarding results of your application through the email you indicated in the SLAS .

UP processes information about your household (i.e. names of your parents or guardian, their respective highest educational attainment, employment status, addresses as well as information about all the other members of the household including siblings, senior citizens etc ), household income (including, if applicable, pensions or other assistance received by household members), household location, properties owned ( e.g whether or not a member of the household owns the house you are living in, appliances, vehicles) etc goods and services used e.g. laundry, unsponsored airfare by your household to be able to determine your household’s financial capacity and your eligibility for financial assistance pursuant to the UP Charter and other applicable laws. By providing the information of other persons to us you warrant that you have obtained their consent for UP to process their personal data and that you undertake to hold UP free and harmless from liability for the processing of their personal data.

If you authorize a third party to fill out the SLAS form for and in your behalf UP also processes the name of such party, relationship to the UP student, contact details (email addresses, contact numbers and present address) and documents that your consent to the terms and conditions of SLAS was obtained through such duly authorized representative. UP allows third parties to file for and in your behalf in recognition of the time, resource and other constraints posed by the public health crises that may not make it feasible or practical for the student to personally submit his/her application.

UP also processes information about your access to devices that you can use for remote learning activities, apps or software you are able to use to meet class requirements, the status of your internet connection and if your internet access is weak the medium to be used for your coursepacks and other learning materials as well as the address where the same should be sent, the nearest state or local university or college where learning activities may be organized, available options for internet access, whether your area experiences power interruptions, the number of learners in your household and whether they will engage in remote or flexible learning for the coming semester, information about what peer and student affairs support you think you may need (tutorial, peer support group and concerns or issues you may wish us to address regarding remote learning activities during the academic year.

We combine the above information with your household’s financial capacity in order to be able to determine whether you are qualified for financial and/or other learning assistance.

The University may compile statistics and conduct research on information collected through SLAS and field visits subject to the provisions of the DPA and applicable research ethics guidelines in order to carry out its mandate as the National University. In conducting policy and operations research in order to improve the delivery of services to students, UP will remove personal identifiers and process only aggregate or statistical information.

We require you to attest that the information that you provide 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 as a publicly funded University and to uphold our legitimate interest as an educational institution as well as that of taxpayers.

UP shall retain and provide measures for the secure storage of your personal data for as long as the above purposes for processing such data subsist, in order to establish or defend legal claims, or as otherwise allowed or required by the DPA and other applicable laws and issuances.

NONDISCLOSURE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO THIRD PARTIES EXCEPT UPON YOUR CONSENT OR AS REQUIRED OR PERMITTED BY LAW

As a general rule, UP will only disclose your personal and sensitive personal information to third parties with your consent. The University will disclose or share such information only when required or allowed by applicable laws.

Under the DPA, personal information may be processed e.g. disclosed, for instance, when it is necessary in order for UP to comply with a legal obligation; to protect your vitally important interests including life and health; necessary to respond to national emergency, public order and safety; necessary to fulfill the functions of public authority or when necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the University 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, ethnicity) on the other hand may be processed, e.g. disclosed, 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 under such law or regulation, e.g. under the Education Act of 1982, parents have the right to access the educational records of children who are under their parental responsibility; such is 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, needed for the protection of lawful rights and interests of natural or legal persons in court proceedings, for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims or where provided to government or public authority

Examples of applicable laws that may require UP to disclose your information pursuant to law include the Implementing Rules and Regulations and Implementing Guidelines for the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017 (RA 10931) and the UNIFAST Act (RA 10687) . Please note that under the UNIFAST Act, among others, the UNIFAST Board is authorized under Section 15 to

     e Promulgate the minimum guidelines, rules, and regulations for determining qualified Beneficiaries of student financial assistance for Tertiary Education;

     f Provide general guidelines for the drawing up of contracts with the student Beneficiaries specifying the rights and obligations of the parties that may include a service clause or such other stipulations of cost recovery the Board may deem in the best interest of the public and consistent with, or responsive to, national, social, economic, and human resources development plans, subject to Section 12;

     g Monitor, assess, and make impact evaluation of StuFAPs and projects, with the end in view of determining whether these programs shall be adopted, continued, or terminated;

Kindly note that the following are examples of information that are not covered by the DPA as stated in Sec. 4 of such law:

     c Information relating to any discretionary benefit of a financial nature such as the granting of a license or permit given by the government to an individual, including the name of the individual and the exact nature of the benefit;

     d Personal information processed for journalistic, artistic, literary or research purposes;

     e Information necessary in order to carry out the functions of public authority,

HOW WE OBTAIN YOUR CONSENT AND HOW YOU CAN WITHDRAW CONSENT

UP obtains your consent for the processing of your personal and sensitive personal information pursuant to this privacy notice through electronic means via SLAS. If you authorized a third person to submit information via SLAS such person by clicking the appropriate button, registers your and their electronic consent to the processing of your respective personal data through SLAS. If you wish to withdraw consent, kindly write or send an email to the Office of Student Financial Assistance and the relevant CU Student Affairs Unit, and identify the processing activity for which you are withdrawing consent. Please attach a copy of your UP ID so that we 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 relevant UP offices confirm that you have validly withdrawn consent for a processing activity/ies the same shall be effective unless you thereafter send a letter or email that you are again consenting to such processing activity/ies.

HOW UP PROTECTS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Even prior to the effectivity of the DPA, UP put in place physical, organizational, and technical measures to protect your right to privacy, and is committed to reviewing and improving them, 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. You may wish for instance to read UP's Acceptable Use Policy for IT Resources (AUP).

From time to time, UP posts information on relevant sites and sends emails that explain how you can secure and maintain the confidentiality of your personal information. Rest assured that UP personnel are allowed to process your personal information only when such processing is part of their official duties. The OSFA only discloses your personal information to other offices and UP personnel, such as UP System offices that are in charge of soliciting donations for students, the Offices of Student Affairs and the University Registrars of the Constituent Universities, in order to perform their functions of determining eligibility for student support in the event you submit entries to the SLAS.

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

SLAS allows you to access and update the personal information you provide UP in connection with your application for financial assistance. You are duty bound to see to it that the personal and other information you provide the University is accurate and updated when the need arises.

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 UP’s mandate, statutory and regulatory requirements, or is processed using a lawful basis other than consent. In the case of your UP ID it is your duty to immediately report the loss of such card to your University Registrar and the UP ITDC so that UP 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 (for CU related concerns please email the proper CU DPO) 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.

REVISIONS TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE AND QUERIES REGARDING DATA PRIVACY

It is your duty to visit this site from time to time to see any updates regarding the Privacy Notice for SLAS Online users. We shall alert you regarding changes to this Policy through this site.

If you have any queries or suggestions regarding this privacy notice or data privacy concerns regarding your personal information processed via SLAS you may contact the UP System Data Protection Officer through the following:

Via post

2F North Wing Quezon Hall

(Admin Building) University Avenue,

UP Diliman, Quezon City 1101

Philippines

Through the following landlines

Phone | (632) 89280110; (632) 89818500 loc. 2521

Through email

[email protected]