Privacy Policy

Who we are

Resqponder is run by the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) of the Municipality of Rosales, Pangasinan, which decides how the information is used (the "personal information controller"). Agency teams use Resqponder for MDRRMO, so they must follow its rules when they handle residents' information.

Questions or requests: Call MDRRMO Rosales at #2441, or visit the MDRRMO office, and ask for the Data Protection Officer of the Municipality of Rosales.

Your team's information

• The agency account: the account name, agency, station or unit, badge number, email and mobile number. MDRRMO sets it up; there is one account per agency, shared by its team, and its password is stored hashed.
• What the team does: incidents it accepts, joins as backup or declines, backup requests, incident reports, and evacuation centers and evacuees it adds, each with the time.
• Logins: when the account logs in and out, with the internet (IP) address, in MDRRMO's Audit Log.
• The phone: a notification token, so incidents can ring the phone.

Information you see and record about others

• SOS alerts and reports: the name and mobile number of the person who reported, where they are (address, landmark and GPS pin), what they wrote, their photos, and MDRRMO's instructions.
• Incident reports: what the team found, effects, actions taken, a photo, and for each person dead, injured or missing: name, age, sex, address, cause and remarks. The law treats age and health information as sensitive personal information.
• Evacuees (MSWD): the name, age, sex, barangay and contact number of people at evacuation centers.

How location is used

• Your phone's location is used on the phone, to show where you are on the maps and to draw routes. It isn't sent to MDRRMO, and your team isn't tracked.
• To draw a route, the phone sends the start and end points to the OSRM route service.
• Searching for a place when adding an evacuation center uses OpenStreetMap's search service (Nominatim). The center's location is saved, and MDRRMO and residents see it.

Why it is used

• To send incidents to the right teams, and to coordinate the response and backup.
• To keep the MDRRMC incident reports, and evacuation and relief records.
• To keep the accounts secure, and to know which team did what.
• For disaster planning and statistics, using totals that don't identify anyone.

Our legal basis

Under Sections 12 and 13 of the Data Privacy Act, the information is used because:

• it is needed to respond to emergencies, keep public order and safety, and carry out MDRRMO's duties under the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 (Republic Act No. 10121) (Sections 12(e) and 13(b));
• it is needed to protect people's life and health (Sections 12(d) and 13(c));
• the law requires records to be kept (Section 12(c)).

The AI photo check

Photos residents send may be checked by Google's Gemini AI service, which suggests what kind of emergency they show. Resqponder shows it as the "AI guess" and the "AI photo check". It is only a hint and can be wrong: check the photo and the place yourself.

Who sees it

• MDRRMO Rosales staff see everything, in the web panel.
• Other teams on the same incident see your account's name, agency, badge number, station and mobile number, and the team's report.
• MSWD teams see the list of evacuees.
• Service providers, only to run Resqponder: Hostinger (our server and database); Google (Firebase Cloud Messaging for the ring, and Gemini for the AI photo check); OpenStreetMap (maps and place search); and the OSRM route service.
• Government authorities, when the law requires it.

Some of these providers keep information outside the Philippines. MDRRMO remains responsible for it under Section 21 of the Data Privacy Act. Nothing is sold or used for advertising.

How long it is kept

• The agency account is kept while the agency works with MDRRMO. MDRRMO can deactivate it.
• Incident reports, evacuation records and the Audit Log are government records, kept as long as they are needed and as records rules require (Republic Act No. 9470, the National Archives of the Philippines Act of 2007). Then they are deleted, or what identifies people is removed.
• The notification token is removed when you log out, and when MDRRMO resets the password or deactivates the account.

How it is protected

MDRRMO's part:

• Information travels over encrypted connections (HTTPS), and passwords are stored hashed.
• Each team only gets the incidents MDRRMO sends it, and only MSWD sees evacuees.
• A link to a report's PDF stops working after 30 minutes.
• What is done in the system is recorded.

Your part:

• Lock the phone with a PIN, and don't leave it unattended while logged in.
• If a phone is lost, or someone leaves the team, ask MDRRMO to reset the password: that signs out every phone.
• Don't screenshot, forward or post residents' information. "Copy for a message" leaves out the reporter's name and number; share it only with people working on the response.

Rights

• Team members can ask MDRRMO to see or correct the agency account's details.
• Residents, casualties' families and evacuees have rights under the Data Privacy Act, including to be told how their information is used, to get a copy, and to have it corrected. If someone asks you, refer them to MDRRMO Rosales.
• Anyone can complain to the National Privacy Commission (privacy.gov.ph).

Requests: Call MDRRMO Rosales at #2441, or visit the MDRRMO office, and ask for the Data Protection Officer of the Municipality of Rosales.

Changes to this policy

Changes will be posted in the app and at resqpulse.com/resqponder/privacy-policy, with the date at the top.