AN INDIVIDUAL who has been included in the list of persons under monitoring (PUMs) for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the City of San Fernando has cried foul after her personal information was leaked to public via social media.
Aiza Canlas lamented on her Facebook account the alleged irresponsible handling of data of the PUMs that resulted in its exposure to the public.
In an interview with SunStar Pampanga through Facebook Messenger, Canlas said the data is being shared and forwarded via social media across the province, and even reached netizens from nearby Bataan and Tarlac provinces.
According to Canlas, she and her sister Nanette D. Silloco arrived in the country from Hangzhou, China on February 2.
Upon arrival, Canlas said they already coordinated with the government and started conducting self-quarantine as protection to their families and the community.
Forty-three days after, the former overseas Filipino worker stressed that she and her sister remain asymptomatic from the deadly disease.
She, however, disclosed that they were not tested for the disease as they already passed the recommended 14-day quarantine process of the government.
She and her sister even secured medical certificates from the city's health office that showed they are clinically cleared from Covid-19 infection.
Despite this, Canlas said fear and trauma remain in their family as their information and the wrong notion about them still circulate on social media.
"It is causing panic among our family and the people surrounding us, and those that received the message because the data that was leaked is incomplete. It only contains the names and locations of alleged PUMs in the province," she said.
She added that the disclosure of their data has already affected their job application, especially that they are trying to stay in country for good after years of being OFWs.
Canlas further lamented that the leak of supposed confidential data is very alarming, especially to her fellow PUMs and patients under investigation (PUIs) and those who actually tested positive for Covid-19.
She said information about PUMS, PUIs and the confirmed cases must be protected under the Data Privacy Act of 2012, which prohibit the disclosure of any information about PUIs, PUMs and even those confirmed cases.
"This may cause fear and apprehension to other PUIs and PUMs to cooperate with the government because the monitoring that is supposed to be discreet was leaked to the public," she said.
Canlas said she and her sister already filed a case against the persons responsible for the leak and spread of their data at the Cybercrime Division of Camp Olivas in the City of San Fernando.
Amid the situation, Canlas still urged individuals who returned to the country from abroad to inform the government of their travel history and cooperate with the quarantine process.
She also asked the government, both national and local, to properly train their personnel on the proper handling of such confidential data to avoid its exposure to public.