April 7, 2022
Dear Khristine April Cruda,
Greetings!
Thank you for your request dated Mar 24, 2022 04:37:25 AM under Executive Order No. 2 (s. 2016) on Freedom of Information in the Executive Branch.
Your Request
You asked for Educational Background of JOSE CABRERA MONTEMAYOR JR..
Response to Request
Your FOI request is approved.The UPD OUR verifies that Mr. Montemayor completed his MBA in UP Diliman and is pursuing a PhD in Public Administration.
Your FOI request is granted by UP, as an ordinary citizen has the right to request information regarding the educational credentials of candidates for elective office as the same is of public concern.
In Ayer vs Capulong G.R. No. 82380 April 29, 1988 the High Court explained that:
A limited intrusion into a person's privacy has long been regarded as permissible where that person is a public figure and the information sought to be elicited from him or to be published about him constitute of a public character. Succinctly put, the right of privacy cannot be invoked to resist publication and dissemination of matters of public interest. The interest sought to be protected by the right of privacy is the right to be free from unwarranted publicity, from the wrongful publicizing of the private affairs and activities of an individual which are outside the realm of legitimate public concern.
x x x
A public figure has been defined as a person who, by his accomplishments, fame, or mode of living, or by adopting a profession or calling which gives the public a legitimate interest in his doings, his affairs, and his character, has become a 'public personage. ...
Such public figures were held to have lost, to some extent at least, their right to privacy. Three reasons were given, more or less indiscriminately, in the decisions" that they had sought publicity and consented to it, and so could not complaint when they received it; that their personalities and their affairs has already public, and could no longer be regarded as their own private business;
Since Jose Cabrera Montemayor Jr is running for President and is therefore a public figure and his educational background was posted at https://www.joeymontemayor.ph/about/educational-background, an ordinary citizen has the right to verify his educational credentials.
12 (e) of the DPA allows the processing of sensitive personal information when such is necessary for the exercise of a legal claim, which in this case is the right of a citizen to be informed regarding the educational background of a candidate running for the presidency which is a matter of public concern.
Your right to request a review
If you are unhappy with this response to your FOI request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response by writing to Secretary of the University of the Philippines at
[email protected]. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made within 15 calendar days from the date when you received this letter. We will complete the review and tell you the result within 30 calendar days from the date when we receive your review request.
If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Office of the President under Administrative Order No. 22 (s. 2011).
Thank you.
Respectfully,
FDE Vice President for Public Affairs
FOI Receiving Officer
