A house provides shelter to a person and his/her family. It shields them from the elements and from the dangers of the outside. It provides a person – or a family for that matter – a sense of security. Needless to state, a roof over one’s head is one of the basic necessities of every human being. A good number of our population lease the houses (including rooms, apartments, and other forms of leased accommodations) that they are living in. But with the imposition of the community quarantines in its different forms throughout the country many were unable to go...

In these modern times, a lot of things have changed on how we perceive life. This fast-paced setting pushed people to forget the value of time—enjoying temporary pleasures and worldly-competitions. The loud world suddenly went upside down. The timid noise of fear has conquered us when coronavirus disease 2019 entered the scene. COVID-19 has tremendously taken over our lives. As it worsens, it may collapse the world in its all aspects. Researchers are on the race to confront the virus--looking for the vaccine that may save people from uncertainty. As we deal with the day-to-day realities of a worldwide disease,...

Last week, we discussed what data privacy is and the different rights of a person in relation to information about him or her. Recently, we have been hearing calls to release COVID-19 patient information especially during the early weeks of the pandemic. The reason given for such calls were myriad. Foremost of the reasons given was that the public has an interest in the information in order to slow down – if not, stop – the infection. Those calling for the release of patient information argue that if the people know who got infected, it would help greatly in contact-tracing,...

Are you one of those ecstatic humans who roamed around the malls and roads last weekend and tend to forget the risk of getting infected with the virus? You’ve got a wrong move pal! Many have freely gone outside and depicted a ‘feast-alike’ scenario after Metro Manila has shifted to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from a two-month strict measure under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). As quarantine rules were relaxed beginning Saturday, May 16, 2020, it partially reopened malls and allowed operations of some business industries. People who badly missed the outside world have rushed to shopping malls and kept everything...

With almost everyone under lockdown all over the world, a lot of our daily activities are slowly but sure moving online – at least for those that can be done online, things ranging from shopping, food delivery, working, and consultations with professionals. This situation puts a lot of personal information stored in some server located god-knows-where or floating around in the cloud. Now, more than ever, it would be prudent for everyone to know their rights when it comes to their personal information.   Let us first define what personal information is. Republic Act No. 10173 or the Data Privacy...