October 25, 2026
October 25, 2026
Welcome to OTG (OFW Tambayan Group). OTG is operated by Gonzales Palma Information Technology Services, San Juan, Batangas, Philippines, which is the personal information controller for OTG. OTG provides a discussion platform for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). This policy explains what we collect, why, who receives it, how long we keep it, and your rights under the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10173).
Data Protection Officer Gonzales Palma Information Technology Services San Juan, Batangas, Philippines team@ofw.tambayan.group
OTG is intended only for individuals 18 years of age or older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone younger.
• Account: email address, password (stored only as a secure hash), sign-in method (email, Google, or Apple), sign-in sessions, email verification status, and account status (for example, banned or deleted). • Profile: username, profile photo, additional profile photos, bio, country of work, city of work, country of origin, years as an OFW, community reputation score, and the date you agreed to the community rules. • Content: posts (text and images), comments, reactions, saved posts, and private messages. • Community activity: groups joined, group roles, join requests, pinned groups and countries, blocks, reports you file or receive, warnings you receive from OTG staff, whose profiles you open and when (kept for 30 days), how many new chats you start each day (kept for 2 days, to limit spam), and the invite code in group links you share, with who joined a group through your link (so we can give you reputation points for it). • Device: push notification tokens, device platform (Android or iOS), the app's device identifier (used only so each phone gets notifications for the right account; it replaces older registrations from the same phone), and technical logs such as IP addresses kept by our hosting provider for security. • Website: name, email address, and message when you use the contact form. • Anonymous feedback: when you send feedback through our website's feedback page, only your message and the topic you picked. We do not collect your name, email address, or account with it. To stop spam, we keep a scrambled code made from your internet connection; the code changes every day, cannot identify you, and after a day cannot be linked back to your connection, even by us. We do not collect government IDs, phone numbers, precise location, or payment information.
Your country of origin may indicate national or ethnic origin, which the Data Privacy Act treats as sensitive personal information. We process it only with your consent, given when you add it to your profile. You may also choose to share sensitive details, such as health, legal, or family matters, in posts or messages. Please share only what you are comfortable with others seeing.
To operate OTG, manage accounts, show public profiles and content, deliver notifications, contact you by email about your account (for example, to help you finish signing up; we keep a record of these messages so we don't send them twice), review reports and moderate content, prevent scams, fraud, and abuse (including stopping banned users from rejoining), improve the service, and comply with legal obligations. OTG does not sell personal information or share it with advertisers.
We process personal information because you consent when you create an account; because it is necessary to provide the service under our Terms of Service; because of our legitimate interest in keeping the community safe (moderation, fraud and abuse prevention); and where required to comply with the law.
Your username, profile photo, bio, country and city of work, reputation score, join date, and the posts and comments you publish may be visible to other users. Posts and comments in OTG's own groups, and in groups whose owner allows it, can be read by visitors who don't have an account. They see what you wrote with your username, profile photo and country, but not your profile, city, messages, or anything in private groups. These pages are not listed in search engines. A shared group link shows the group's name, description and cover photo to anyone who opens it. When you open someone's profile in the app, they may see that you viewed it and when (how many visitors each person sees depends on their reputation); visits by OTG staff are not shown, and visits are erased after 30 days. Your email address, country of origin, and years as an OFW are not shown to other users. Private messages are visible only to the people in the conversation, and private group content only to that group's members.
Group owners, admins, and moderators can see member lists, join requests, pending posts, and reports for the groups they manage. OTG administrators and moderators can see account, content, and report information when needed for moderation and safety, including content that has been deleted. They may also send you a Community Warning when your content breaks the rules; you see it in the app under My Reports → Warnings.
Users may block, report, and delete conversations. OTG may review message content only when reasonably necessary to investigate abuse, fraud, illegal activity, Terms violations, or when required by law.
Users retain ownership of uploaded images. Users grant OTG a non-exclusive license to store and display them solely for operating the platform.
OTG may send push notifications and email notifications. You can turn off push notifications in your device settings.
We use these providers to run OTG. They process information on our behalf and only for that purpose: • Supabase: database, sign-in, file storage, and server functions • Google Sign-In and Sign in with Apple: if you choose to sign in with them • Resend: account emails (verification, password reset, account deletion confirmation, and notices when an account is suspended or restored) • Expo, Google Firebase Cloud Messaging, and Apple Push Notification service: push notifications • Our website hosting provider: serving ofw.tambayan.group We disclose information to government or law enforcement only when required by law or a valid legal order.
User data is stored in Singapore. Because OTG is used by OFWs around the world, your information is transferred to and processed in Singapore and by the providers listed above. We rely on providers that apply appropriate safeguards.
OTG uses reasonable safeguards including encrypted connections, hashed passwords, and access controls that limit who can see or change information. No system is completely secure.
If a breach of personal information is likely to put you at real risk of harm, we will notify the National Privacy Commission and affected users within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, as required by law.
You can delete your account in the app (Profile → menu → Delete Account) or by emailing team@ofw.tambayan.group. When you delete your account, we immediately remove your profile details (username, photos, bio, country and city of work, country of origin, years as an OFW), delete your photos from storage, remove your email address and sign-in methods from your account, and permanently disable sign-in. We also delete your notifications, push tokens, saved posts, pinned groups and countries, post follows, group memberships, and join requests. Groups you own are transferred to OTG. Your posts, comments, and messages remain visible to others as "Deleted User" so that discussions stay intact.
• Email fingerprint: a one-way, scrambled code made from your email address (not the email itself). It lets us recognize the same email if it is used to sign up again, so banned users cannot rejoin and moderators can see repeat sign-ups. • Retired username: a scrambled code of your old username, so no one else can take it and pretend to be you. • Deleted comments: when a comment is deleted, its original text is kept privately for moderation and safety, visible only to OTG staff. • Posts, comments, and messages: kept as "Deleted User", as described above. • Reports, warnings, and other moderation records (what happened, who handled it, and when): kept for safety and legal purposes. We keep these for as long as needed for these purposes. To ask us to remove any of them, contact team@ofw.tambayan.group. We may decline where the information is needed to enforce a ban or for legal reasons.
Account and profile information is kept while your account is active. Push tokens are kept until you sign out, turn off notifications, or delete your account. Technical logs are kept by our hosting provider for a limited time for security. Anonymous feedback messages are kept for as long as they help us improve OTG. When a group is deleted, it is hidden from everyone, but its posts and comments are kept for OTG staff for moderation and safety, and staff can restore the group.
The web version may use cookies for authentication, preferences, security, and performance.
Under the Data Privacy Act, you have the right to be informed, to access your personal information, to correct it, to object to processing, to request erasure or blocking, to receive a copy of your data, to withdraw consent, and to claim damages. To use these rights, contact team@ofw.tambayan.group. We may ask you to confirm your identity first. If you believe your rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the National Privacy Commission (privacy.gov.ph).
This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. We will show the date of the latest change at the top of this page. Continued use of OTG after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Gonzales Palma Information Technology Services San Juan, Batangas, Philippines team@ofw.tambayan.group