Balanquit, J. G. (2018). A policy paper aimed to balance rights on data privacy and COMELEC's mandate on accountability and transparency (Unpublished master's thesis). Public Management Development Program, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Public Management and Development Program Senior Executives Class Batch 6 Thesis (SEC)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

The enactment of the Data Privacy Act (Republic Act No. 10173) is primarily designed to protect the fundamental human right of all Filipino citizens against unauthorized disclosure or processing of their personal information. On the other hand, the countrys election body the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) envisions and is committed to promote a clean, honest, and credible election as reflected in its mandate for transparency and accountability to the public and to its stakeholders both external and internal. The Data Privacy Act, being implemented by the National Privacy Commission (NPS), gives primary importance to the individual right of citizens while COMELEC gives emphasis of the collective right of the public, especially the stakeholders, to be informed through a system of transparency of all its process, starting off with the voters registration. These conflicting objectives may beset the organizations. Thus, it is believed that a well meaning remedial policy shall be introduced before the matter could escalate into a full blown credibility issue that may affect the entire election system or worse, the integrity of COMELEC as an institution. With the premise, this study desires to introduce a workable policy aimed at harmonizing and balancing the rights on data privacy and COMELECs mandate for transparency and accountability of its voters registration data base. Thus, four policy options were proposed to address the resulting conflict between the two. These policy options are 1) to balance rights on data privacy and COMELECs mandate on transparency and accountability, there should be a comprehensive and collaborative review by the NPS and COMELEC based on the provisions in Chapter 11, Sec. 7, par. (f), (k), and (m) of RA 10173, Chapter III, Sec. 11 of the Data Privacy Law which stresses adherence to transparency principles and Section 12 par. (e) on national emergency, public order and safety, 2) for fast tracking and validation of data, there should be an entry of a third party such as the Philippine Statistic Authority (PSA) and other government agencies who will participate in the creating of a data sharing agreement that will help the governments approach to data privacy through Memorandum of Agreement 3) maintain the status quo wherein minimal remedial actions shall be made to solve the conflict thereby allowing the enforcement of the data privacy law though with noted adverse effects to COMELECs mandate of transparency, particularly, on the voters registration process as well as in the performance of the day to day functions of its local field offices and 4) amendatory legislations regarding Data Protection and Freedom to Information to be agreed upon by the NPC and COMELEC, within the bounds of law and with participation of the third party which is the PSA and other government organizations. After evaluating the aforementioned policy options and with the considerations of the criteria on effectiveness, efficiency, and social equity, Policy Option 1 is highly recommended. Furthermore, there should be an introduction of some special or compromise provisions for exemptions of the restrictions, especially on election matters within the bounds of the law and, at the same time, upholding the COMELECs mandate on transparency and accountability to the public and to the various election stakeholders.