Bureau of Immigration(BI)

April 15, 2021 Dear Patrick John Nierves, Greetings! Thank you for your request dated Mar 30, 2021 12:27:14 AM under Executive Order No. 2 (s. 2016) on Freedom of Information in the Executive Branch. Your Request data on the numbers of illegal aliens in the country for the year 2020. The BI regrets to inform you that it cannot issue such certification in compliance with RA 10173 (Data Privacy Act of 2012), Secs. 3 and 13, to wit: xxx (l) Sensitive personal information refers to personal information: (1) About an individual’s race, ethnic origin, marital status, age, color, and religious, philosophical or political affiliations; (2) About an individual’s health, education, genetic or sexual life of a person, or to any proceeding for any offense committed or alleged to have been committed by such person, the disposal of such proceedings, or the sentence of any court in such proceedings; (3) Issued by government agencies peculiar to an individual which includes, but not limited to, social security numbers, previous or current health records, licenses or its denials, suspension or revocation, and tax returns; and…xx xxx SEC. 13. Sensitive Personal Information and Privileged Information. – The processing of sensitive personal information and privileged information shall be prohibited, except in the following cases: (a) The data subject has given his or her consent, specific to the purpose prior to the processing, or in the case of privileged information, all parties to the exchange have given their consent prior to processing; xxx (f) The processing concerns such personal information as is necessary for the protection of lawful rights and interests of natural or legal persons in court proceedings, or the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims, or when provided to government or public authority. Your request involves sensitive personal information wherein there is no attached written consent from the subject OR lawful order from a government authority (Subpoena Duces Tecum or Court order). The BI hopes that this sufficiently addressed your concern. Your FOI request is approved. I enclose a copy of [some/most/all] of the information you requested. 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 www.immigration.gov.ph, 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, Legal Division FOI Receiving Officer