CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A petition has been filed against an ordinance requiring a QR code from individuals entering Camiguin.
Local businessman Paul Rodriguez led a petition against the provincial ordinance that took effect in March 2023, known as the Camiguin Smart Tourism system that replaced the Clean Camiguin QR Code that was institutionalized during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the ordinance, visitors who enter the province need to secure a QR code which would then require one to provide full name, birthdate, gender, civil status, nationality, address, mobile number, email address, and a front-facing photograph.
Once acquired, the same QR code will be good for the succeeding entries to the province. This is also scanned upon departure.
The ordinance states that the system is designed to “collect, record and organize all arrivals to and departures from the province in real time determine visitor demographics and trends for tourism development and marketing purposes, and analyze carrying capacity and environmental impact.”
“To ensure a comprehensive and holistic collection, organization and analysis of data, residents shall likewise scan their QR codes upon arrival to and departure from the province,” the ordinance stated.
But Rodriguez and the petitioners said the system is violative of the right to privacy of the residents as well as of free movement hence the need to have it “urgently nullified.”
“Monitoring the movement of tourists” also impinges on their rights, the petition further said.
The system is a form of “control of the people’s right to travel and mobility” especially the “critics, political and business rivals” of the Romualdo family who has ruled the province for over three decades.
Gov. Xavier Jurdin Romualdo brushed aside the petition.
“It just came up when Paul Rodriguez had decided to run for governor against my father (in 2025) and will file his candidacy on October,” Romualdo told the Inquirer.
Rep. Romualdo told the Inquirer that data privacy is not breached as the information required to secure a QR code are the usual that one gives in the course of traveling.
He further said that he is even contemplating to have the system institutionalized through an act of Congress given that it is effective in tracking the volume and trend of tourist arrivals in Camiguin.