The National Privacy Commission (NPC) is giving the organizers of the Miss Earth pageant five days to file an explanation for releasing Miss Earth Canada’s personal information.
Miss Earth Canada Jaime VandenBerg previously claimed that she was sexually harassed by one of the pageant sponsors urging her to not finish the competition, reported PEP.ph.
It can be recalled that Miss Earth Canada revealed through an Instagram post that her phone number was given to one of the sponsors without her consent.
After the sponsor got her number, the beauty queen claimed that he kept on calling her to ask for her hotel and room number. It was the same sponsor who asked “sexual favors” from her.
“The second day of the pageant I felt uncomfortable because a sponsor from the first night was given my phone number, without my consent, and was calling me asking for my hotel and room number,” VandenBerg said.
Aside from giving away her phone number, VandenBerg also said that her team managers confiscated her passport and some of her personal belongings without her permission.
NPC sent a letter to Carousel Productions, Inc., the organizer of the Miss Earth pageant, held in the Philippines earlier this month.
The letter, which was addressed to Carousel Productions executives Ramon Monzon and Lorraine Schuck, says that NPC wants to evaluate the “legality of data processing within Carousel Productions, Inc.”
It also stated that Carousel Productions does not have registered information controllers and a data protection officer.
The pageant’s official websites also do not contain “information about a duly appointed and functioning data protection officer”.
“Under the Data Privacy Act, all personal information controllers such as yourselves must abide by principles of transparency, legitimate purpose, and proportionality,” the letter reads.
NPC is giving the Miss Earth organization and Carousel Productions five days to file a statement containing the names of their data protection officer, the organization’s registration details, and an explanation on how and why Miss Canada’s phone number was given to one of the sponsors.
