Professional Documents
Culture Documents
202666)
September 29, 2014
Petitioners: Rhonda Ave S. Vivares and Sps. Margarita and David Suzara
Respondents: St. Theresas College, Mylene Rheza T. Escudero and John Does
Nature: Petition for review on certiorari
FACTS:
Julia and Julienne, both minors, were graduating high school students at St. Theresas College Cebu.
In January 2012, along with several others, while changing into their swimsuits for a beach party they were about to attend,
they took digital pictures of themselves only in their undergarments which Angela posted on her Facebook profile.
Escudero, a computer teacher at STC learned from her students that some seniors at STC posted such photos. She asked
them if they knew who the girls were and were readily identified as Julia, Julienne and Chloe, among others.
Escudero reported the matter to Tigol, STCs discipline-in-charge for appropriate action.
o STC found the identified students to have deported themselves in a manner proscribed by the Student Handbook:
Possession of alcoholic drinks outside the school campus
Engaging in immoral, indecent, obscene or lewd acts
Smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages in public places
Apparel that exposes the underwear
Clothing that advocates unhealthy behavior
Posing and uploading pictures on the Internet that entail ample body exposure
The students reported to Sr. Purisima, the STCs high school principal.
o They claimed that they were castigated and verbally abused by the STC officials
o Sr. Purisima informed their parents that as penalty, they will not be allowed to join the commencement exercises
A week before graduation, Angelas Mother (Dr. Tan) filed a Petition for Injunction and Damages before the RTC of Cebu
against STC, praying that defendants be enjoined from precluding Angela from joining the commencement exercises. The
mother of Julia (Vivares) joined as an intervenor.
RTC issued TRO allowing the students to attend graduation, STC filed a motion for reconsideration, and nevertheless
sanctioned the students.
Petitioners filed a Writ of Habeas Data:
o The photos of the students in their undergarments were taken for posterity
o The privacy setting was set at Friends Only reasonable expectation of privacy on the part of the students
o Respondents, being involved in the field of education, ought to have known the laws that safeguard the right to
privacy girls, whose privacy are invaded, are the victims
o Photos accessed belong to the girls cannot be used and reproduced without their consent Escudero violated by
saving copies and subsequently showing them to STCs officials
Respondents:
o Petitioners are not the proper parties
o Petitioners are engaging in forum shopping
o Instant case in not one where a writ of habeas data may issue
o No violation of their right to privacy
RTC: Dismissed the petition for habeas data petitioners failed to prove the existence of an actual or threatened violation of
the minors right to privacy
ISSUES:
WON habeas data should be issued given the factual milieu.
WON there was indeed an actual or threatened violation of the right to privacy in the life, liberty or security of the minors (NO)
RATIO:
WRIT OF HABEAS DATA: remedy available to any person whose right to privacy in life, liberty or security is violated by an
unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity engaged in gathering, collecting or
storing of data or information regarding the person, family, home and correspondence of the aggrieved party
o The writ will not issue on the basis merely of an alleged unauthorized access to information about a person.
o Given the nature of an online social network (1) that it facilitates and promotes real-time interaction among millions,
if not billions, of users, sans the spatial barriers; and (2) that any information uploaded in OSNs leaves an indelible
trace in the providers database, which is outside the control of the end-users is there a right to informational
privacy in OSN activities of its users?
PROCEDURAL ISSUES:
Respondents alleged that:
o Writ of habeas data was enacted solely for the purpose of complementing the Writ of Amparo in cases of extralegal
killings and enforced disappearances (NO)
Court: Habeas data was designed to safeguard individual freedom from abuse in the information age
erroneous to limit its applicability to extralegal killings and enforced disappearances only
o Habeas data may not be issue against STC, it not being an entity engaged in the gathering, collecting, or storing of
data regarding person, family, home (NO)
Habeas data is a protection against unlawful acts or omissions of public officials and of private individuals or
entities engaged in gathering, collecting, or storing data about the aggrieved party and his or her
correspondences, or about his or her family need not be in the business of collecting or storing data
Engaged to do or take part in something
SUBSTANTIVE ISSUE: WON STC violated petitioners daughters right to privacy (NO)
THEREFORE, the court ruled that the defendants did not violate the minors right to privacy by viewing and copying the
pictures on the minors Facebook pages.