Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how Pinoyaya Social Welfare Services ("Pinoyaya," "we," "us," or "our"), a Philippine-registered entity, collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information of users of the Pinoyaya mobile application and related services (the "App").

Pinoyaya is a two-sided marketplace connecting Filipino families with helpers (yayas, housekeepers, and household helpers). Helpers can choose to verify their ID and earn an ID-verified badge; not every helper has one. This policy applies equally to families who post jobs and pay for access ("Family Users") and helpers who create profiles and apply for work ("Helper Users"): together, "Users" or "you."

We comply with the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10173), its Implementing Rules and Regulations, and applicable issuances of the National Privacy Commission (NPC).

It also covers our website, pinoyaya.com. What the website collects, and the analytics you can accept or decline, is set out in Section 13.1.

By creating an account or using the App, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to this Privacy Policy.

2. Personal Information Controller and Data Protection Officer

Personal Information Controller

Pinoyaya Social Welfare Services
Cebu City, Philippines
support@pinoyaya.com

Data Protection Officer

Email: support@pinoyaya.com

The DPO is our point of contact for all privacy inquiries, access requests, and complaints. Our full registered office address is available on request.

3. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of personal information.

3.1 Information you provide directly

All Users

• Full name
• Mobile phone number: you sign in with a one-time code sent by SMS; there is no password
• Date of birth (to confirm you are 18 years or older)
• Profile photo
• City and barangay
• Communications you send to us (support tickets, feedback), including your email address if you contact our support team by email

Helper Users (additional)

• Category of work offered (e.g. childcare, housekeeping)
• Work experience and self-described history
• Availability and preferences (stay-in/stay-out, full-time/part-time, schedule)
• Expected salary range
• Languages spoken

Family Users (additional)

• Household details (e.g. number of children, ages, pets at home, home type)
• Job posting details (job description, schedule, location, rate offered)
• Your home area: city and barangay (used to find nearby helpers). Before a hire, helpers see only this area. Your exact address is shared only after you hire a helper, and only by you

3.2 Identity verification information

Identity verification is optional. Users who choose to complete it do so through a specialised third-party verification provider, and helpers who pass receive the ID-Verified badge on their profile.

During verification, you submit a government-issued ID (e.g. PhilSys, driver's licence, passport, UMID) and a selfie. This data is collected and stored by the verification provider, not by Pinoyaya. Pinoyaya receives only:

• Verification result (passed / failed / under review)
• Name and date of birth as confirmed by the provider
• Verification timestamp and unique reference ID

Pinoyaya does not store your ID document images or biometric data on our own servers.

3.3 Payment information

Family Users who purchase an access pass pay only as an in-app purchase through Apple’s App Store on iOS or Google Play on Android. Passes are not sold on our website, and we do not take payment any other way.

Pinoyaya does not collect, see, or store your card number, CVV, or other payment credentials. These are handled by Apple or Google under their own terms. Pinoyaya receives only:

• Payment status (success / failed / refunded)
• Amount and currency
• Transaction reference ID
• Which pass you bought, and when it starts and ends

3.4 Information collected automatically

• Device data: device type, operating system, app version, language, timezone, mobile network
• Usage data: screens viewed, features used, app session length, taps and interactions
• Log data: IP address, access timestamps, crash reports
• The city and barangay you enter on your profile (see Section 3.5)

3.5 Location data

The App does not access your device’s GPS or collect satellite location data. Location in Pinoyaya is only the city and barangay you enter yourself on your profile or job post. We use it to show helpers and jobs in the same city or in nearby commuter areas.

Because we never read your device location, there is no location permission to grant or revoke. If that ever changes, we will ask for your permission first and update this policy.

Your precise home address is never shown by Pinoyaya to the other side of the marketplace. Before a hire, helpers see only a family’s area (city and barangay), and families see the helper’s area. A family’s exact address is shared only after a hire, and only by the family themselves.

3.6 Chat and message content

The App allows Users to communicate directly with each other through in-app messaging. Pinoyaya stores message history to:

• Allow Users to access past conversations
• Investigate reports of harassment, fraud, or platform abuse
• Comply with lawful requests from authorities

Messages are stored on secure servers and accessed by Pinoyaya staff only when necessary (e.g. abuse reports). Pinoyaya does not actively monitor or read private conversations.

Contact details are hidden: phone numbers, email addresses, and links are not allowed in posts, profiles, names, or chats (see Section 9 of our Terms of Service). Please do not share sensitive personal information (bank details, ID numbers, payment credentials) in chat.

4. How We Use Your Information

We process personal information for the following purposes, on the legal bases described in Section 5:

• Account creation and management: Registering you, verifying your phone via SMS OTP, signing you in, recovering your account
• Identity verification: Confirming the identity of Users who choose to verify, and issuing the ID-Verified badge
• Running the marketplace: Matching helpers to jobs near you, showing job listings, ranking profiles, enabling chat
• Payments: Recording your access pass purchase from Apple or Google, showing when your pass starts and ends, and handling store refund notices
• Trust and safety: Investigating fraud, abuse, harassment, fake profiles; suspending or removing accounts
• Customer support: Responding to your questions, complaints, and feedback
• Service improvement: Analysing aggregate usage to fix bugs, improve features, build new ones
• Marketing communications: Sending you emails and push notifications about new jobs, app features, and promotions (see Section 8: you can opt out anytime)
• Legal compliance: Complying with the Data Privacy Act, lawful court orders, NPC directives, and tax/AML laws

5. Legal Basis for Processing

Under the Data Privacy Act, we process your personal information on one or more of these bases:

• Your consent, which you give when you create an account, agree to this policy, and accept specific permissions (e.g. notifications, marketing)
• Performance of a contract with you, to deliver the services you signed up for
• Compliance with a legal obligation under PH law
• Legitimate interests of Pinoyaya (including platform safety, fraud prevention, and improving the App) balanced against your rights and freedoms

You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting our DPO or by changing your settings within the App. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

6. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only in the following limited circumstances.

6.1 With other Users (within the marketplace)

The core function of the App is to connect Users with each other. Therefore:

• Helper Users: your profile (name, age, photo, your own written description, category of work, years of experience, rate, city, and whether you carry the ID-Verified badge) is visible to all Family Users, including those without an access pass.
• Family Users: helpers see your first name and area (for example, “Patricia · family in Pasig”) and your job post (description, household details, approximate area, rate). Your exact address is not shown; you share it yourself, only after a hire.
• Once you connect: your in-app messages and any details you choose to share become visible to the other party.

You control what you share. Do not post information you wouldn't want the other side to see.

6.2 With our service providers

We engage vetted third-party service providers ("Personal Information Processors") to help operate the App. Each is bound by a written agreement requiring them to protect your information and use it only for the purposes we instruct. The categories of providers we use include:

• Identity verification providers, to confirm User identity from government-issued IDs
• App stores (Apple App Store and Google Play), to process access pass purchases and refunds
• SMS / OTP providers, to deliver one-time verification codes
• Cloud hosting and infrastructure providers, to securely store and serve app data
• Analytics and crash-reporting providers, to measure performance and fix bugs
• App development and technical support partners, to build, maintain, and operate the App

A current list of specific providers is available on request from our DPO.

6.3 With authorities and in legal proceedings

We may disclose your information when required by law, court order, or lawful directive of a Philippine regulator (including the National Privacy Commission, NBI, or PNP), or when necessary to protect the safety of Users or the public.

6.4 In corporate transactions

If Pinoyaya is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred. We will notify you and ensure any successor honours the commitments in this policy.

7. Cross-Border Transfers

Some of our service providers process data outside the Philippines. When we transfer personal information abroad, we ensure:

• The transfer is governed by a written data processing agreement requiring equivalent protections to the Data Privacy Act
• The receiving country offers an adequate level of protection, or appropriate safeguards (e.g. standard contractual clauses) are in place
• Your rights as a data subject remain enforceable

You may contact our DPO for further information about the safeguards used for any specific transfer.

8. Marketing Communications

We will send you marketing emails and push notifications about new jobs, features, promotions, and tips relevant to your role on the App.

You can opt out at any time by:

• Tapping "Unsubscribe" at the bottom of any marketing email
• Turning off marketing notifications in Settings → Notifications within the App
• Emailing our DPO

Opting out of marketing does not stop transactional messages (e.g. verification OTPs, payment receipts, job application notifications, abuse-report responses), which are necessary for the service to function.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy or as required by law.

After the retention period, data is securely deleted or anonymised.

10. Your Rights

Under the Data Privacy Act, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to be informed of how your data is collected and used (this policy)
• Right to access: request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to rectification: correct inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to erasure or blocking: ask us to delete or block your data (subject to retention obligations in Section 9). You can also delete your account directly from within the App at any time.
• Right to object: object to processing for direct marketing or other purposes
• Right to data portability: receive your data in a structured, commonly-used format
• Right to file a complaint with the National Privacy Commission
• Right to damages for any violation of your rights under the Data Privacy Act

To exercise any right, contact our DPO at support@pinoyaya.com. We will respond within 15 working days of receiving a verified request, or sooner where required.

11. Security

We protect your personal information with appropriate organisational, physical, and technical safeguards, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest
• Password-free sign-in with one-time SMS codes
• Role-based access controls: staff and contractors access data only on a need-to-know basis
• Regular security reviews and updates
• Written data processing agreements with all third-party providers
• Incident response procedures and breach notification protocols

In the event of a personal data breach that is likely to cause real risk of serious harm, we will notify the National Privacy Commission and affected Users in line with NPC Circular 16-03 (within 72 hours where applicable).

No system is perfectly secure. You also play a role: never share your one-time sign-in codes, keep your phone and SIM secure, do not share your account, and contact us immediately if you suspect unauthorised access.

12. Children

Pinoyaya is for users 18 years of age and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have collected such information, we will delete it promptly. If you believe a minor is using the App, please contact our DPO.

This restriction applies on both sides of the marketplace, including to anyone applying as a Helper. Family Users may, of course, post jobs that involve caring for minor children in their household, but those children are not Pinoyaya users and we do not collect personal information about them beyond what the Family User shares in a job post (e.g. "1 toddler, 1 newborn").

13. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The App may use cookies, local storage, software development kits (SDKs), and similar technologies to:

• Keep you signed in
• Remember your preferences
• Measure app performance and crashes
• Deliver and measure marketing communications

You can control device-level permissions through your phone's settings (e.g. "Limit Ad Tracking" on iOS, "Reset Advertising ID" on Android).

13.1 The pinoyaya.com website

This section covers the website pinoyaya.com, which is separate from the App. The website has no accounts and no forms; it does not ask for your name, phone number or email.

• Analytics only with your consent. When you first visit, we ask whether we may use Google Analytics. If you decline or do not answer, no analytics script loads and no analytics cookies are set.
• What Google Analytics collects if you accept: pages viewed, the page that referred you, approximate location (country and city, derived from your IP address; Google Analytics 4 does not log or store full IP addresses), device, browser and screen type, and clicks on App Store or Google Play links. We have turned off Google signals and ad personalisation for the website.
• Cookies it sets: _ga and _ga_VWB7R4LWPH, first-party cookies that by default last up to 2 years. Your accept or decline choice is kept only in your own browser (local storage key pp-consent-v1) and is not sent to us.
• Why, and on what basis: to understand which pages help families and helpers and to improve the site. The legal basis is your consent under Section 12(a) of the Data Privacy Act of 2012. You can withdraw it at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page; we then stop loading analytics and remove the _ga cookies set on this site.
• Who processes it: Google acts as our service provider for Google Analytics, which may involve transfer of this data outside the Philippines (see Section 7). Google Analytics keeps event-level data for the retention period set in our account (Google's options are 2 or 14 months); aggregated reports contain no information that identifies you.
• Hosting: our web host, Netlify, processes standard server logs (such as IP address, browser type and the page requested) to deliver the site and keep it secure.
• App store links: links to the App Store and Google Play carry a short tag naming the page you came from (for example home), so we can see which pages lead to downloads. The tag contains no personal data. Apple and Google handle your visit under their own privacy policies.

You can also block Google Analytics in any website with Google's opt-out browser add-on, or by clearing or blocking cookies in your browser.

14. Third-Party Links and Services

The App may contain links to or integrations with third-party services. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third parties. We encourage you to review their own privacy notices before providing them with information.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will:

• Update the "Last Updated" date at the top
• Notify you in-app or by email at least 30 days before the changes take effect
• Where required by law, request your fresh consent

Continued use of the App after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

16. Contact Us

For privacy-related questions, complaints, or requests to exercise your rights, contact:

Pinoyaya Data Protection Officer
Email: support@pinoyaya.com

For complaints you believe are unresolved, you may also contact:

National Privacy Commission (Philippines)
Website: www.privacy.gov.ph
Email: complaints@privacy.gov.ph