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G.R. No. 202666
requires that claimants themselves take utmost care in safeguarding a right which they allege to have been violated.
These are indispensable. We cannot afford protection to persons if they themselves did nothing to place the matter
within the confines of their private zone. OSN users must be mindful enough to learn the use of privacy tools, to use
them if they desire to keep the information private, and to keep track of changes in the available privacy settings,
such as those of Facebook, especially because Facebook is notorious for changing these settings and the site's
layout often.
In finding that respondent STC and its officials did not violate the minors' privacy rights, We find no cogent reason to
disturb the findings and case disposition of the court a quo.
In light of the foregoing, the Court need not belabor the other assigned errors.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the petition is hereby DENIED. The Decision dated July 27, 2012 of the
Regional Trial Court, Branch 14 in Cebu City in SP. Proc. No. 19251CEB is hereby AFFIRMED.
No pronouncement as to costs.
SO ORDERED.
PRESBITERO J. VELASCO, JR.
Associate Justice
WE CONCUR:
DIOSDADO M. PERALTA
Associate Justice
MARTIN S. VILLARAMA, JR.
Associate Justice
BIENVENIDO L. REYES
Associate Justice
FRANCIS H. JARDELEZA
Associate Justice
AT T E S T A T I O N
I attest that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in consultation before the case was assigned
to the writer of the opinion of the Court's Division.
PRESBITERO J. VELASCO, JR.
Associate Justice
Chairperson
C E R T I F I C A T I O N
Pursuant to Section 13, Article VIII of the Constitution and the Division Chairperson's Attestation, I certify that the
conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in consultation before the case was assigned to the writer of
the opinion of the Court's Division.
ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Acting Chief Justice
Footnotes
1
Issued on January 22, 2008.
2
Penned by Presiding Judge Raphael B. Yrastorza, Sr.
3
Facebook is a "voluntary social network to which members subscribe and submit information. x x x. It has
created a worldwide forum enabling friends to share information such as thoughts, links, and photographs,
with one another." (H v. W., Case No. 12/10142, January 30, 2013, In the South Gauteng High Court,
Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa).
4
By using the "Friends Only" setting.
5
Using "Public" as their Privacy Setting.
6
ICM stands for the "Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary."
7
Entitled Dr. Armenia M. Tan, for and in behalf of her minor child v. St. Theresa’s College, High School
Department, Sr. Celeste Ma. Purisima Pe, Mrs.Mussolini S. Yap, Ms. Marnie D. Racaza, Ms. Kristine Rose
Ligot (sic), and Ms. Edita Josephine Yu.
8
Entitled Rhonda Ave S. Vivares, and Sps. Margarita and David Suzara v. St. Theresa’s College, Mylene
Rheza T. Escudero, and John Does.
9
Rollo, p. 39.
10
A.M. No. 08116SC, February 2, 2008 [Sec. 19. Appeal. – Any party may appeal from the judgment or
final order to the Supreme Court under Rule 45. The appeal may raise questions of fact or law or both.].
11
Id., Sec. 1.
12
Gamboa v. Chan, G.R. No. 193636, July 24, 2012, 677 SCRA 385.
13
See Andres Guadamuz, Habeas Data and the European Data Protection Directive, in THE JOURNAL OF
INFORMATION, LAW AND TECHNOLOGY (JILT) (2001), cited in former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno’s
speech, The Common Right to Privacy (2008).
14
Gamboa v. Chan, supra note 12.
15
See Roxas v. MacapagalArroyo, G.R. No. 189155, September 7, 2010, 630 SCRA 211.
16
In Recasting Privacy Torts in a Spaceless Worldby Patricia Sanchez Abril, the term used to refer to the
physical space which poses a number of problems in privacy torts that occur in Cyberspace a spaceless
world, is "spatial linchpins." (Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, Vol. 21, Number 1 Fall 2007); See
alsoKizza, Joseph Migga, Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age, Third Edition, SpringerVerlag
London Limited 2007, p. 303 – "The totality of cyberspace is in reality a borderless selfregulating and
decentralized mosaic of communities with a variety of cultural, political, and religious agendas."
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