Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro on PNP request to obtain lawyer list in Calbayog City
In light of the issue concerning the request of list of lawyers representing communist groups, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) reminds all government agencies as personal information controllers of their duties and responsibilities under the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
While the NPC recognizes that there may be a presumption of regularity in the conduct of police operations, the rights of the data subjects remain to be paramount and must be upheld at all times.
We would like to emphasize that law enforcement or investigative agencies of the government do not have blanket authority to access or use the information about private individuals under the custody of another agency.
Consideration shall be made on the nature of the requested information and on whether these are required to be kept confidential in line with other applicable laws and regulations on the matter.
The NPC is still monitoring the incident to obtain additional information.
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