I was pulled forcefully, guards gripping my forearms like I'm some little kid, into their department for taking a picture of this government hospital from across the road. To start this day off, my mother decided to take my grandfather to Rosario Maclang Bautista General Hospital for a dermatologist check-up for his dry and itchy skin, which would be my second time ever to go to a government hospital. Everything was going well, and the lines weren't as long or as messy as I thought they would be.
A bit of context first: my grandfather is a stroke patient and has cataracts in his eye, making movement really difficult, which meant that he had to stay at home since 2019. Even though his movement is limited, he always brushes off the idea of getting a wheelchair. Yet 7 years had changed a lot, especially since he had barely gone out.
For this instance, I decided to ask for a wheelchair at around 7AM while my grandfather still sits in line, since I remember during the pandemic vaccination era, the nurses had him use one. I started by asking the guards at the OPD gate about the possibility of borrowing a wheelchair. The guard then mentioned na pwede ako humiram sa may ER, and to just ask the guards there, I just need to bring a valid ID. So on I went to the ER. At first they were alright to talk to, explaining that I could borrow the wheelchair that was currently being used to offload a patient into a try-cicle. But then they asked where my grandfather was, and I explained that he was in the OPD waiting area. They said I should borrow a wheelchair from the OPD since they have designated wheelchairs there. Yet when I went back there, all that was said was that they don't have any wheelchairs available, and I should ask the guards if I could just borrow the ER wheelchair. So on I go back to the ER to kindly ask if I could borrow that wheelchair (which, during my walk back to the OPD, is now gone). I mentioned to them what the guard at the OPD said, and the reply I got was "eh sir, wala eh, ano gusto mong gawin natin?", in a rude tone; they didn't even look for a wheelchair or anything BTW.
Frustrated with this since this meant that my grandfather would have to walk and go up stairs inch-by-inch, I decided to go across the road and eventually snap a pic of the hospital as a sort of update prior to my rant to my girlfriend (a med student). To explain the picture, it was a 0.5 picture from across the road, as simple as that. But what happens next? I get a guard rushing at me and suddenly pulling my arm, back into their gate and exclaiming things like "sinisigawan na kita ah!", "alam mo bang bawal 'yang ginagawa mo?!", "may data privacy act tayo!", among other things. I, on the other hand, had no idea that you can't take a pic of a building? (if this is even true). Hinihila niya the whole time forearm ko like I'm some sort of toddler, forcing me back into their department inside the buildingm, making a scene to the point na pinagtitinginan na ako. I tried to resist, but they were insistent and I did not want things to escalate. I kept explaining that I could delete the pic if that's the case? And I kept asking where the hell was there even a signage for this policy of theirs? But all they had to say was "duon ka na mag explain sa dept. head (or whatever they called him) insistent to drag me there. I accepted this because there were two guards now that were escorting me into that office (one dragging me by the arm still) and I hoped that this dept. head would've been a more sane person to talk to? Because a big part of me thought this was a massive overreaction. Fortunately, he was. What our conversation led to was me making a written complaint.
My question is, did I actually violate the Data Privacy Act? And were the actions of these guards justified? Oh, BTW! No one, I mean no one, ever asked me to delete the picture! (not until I asked the dept. head why even he didn't ask for me to delete it if that was their concern, which he then mentioned how he though I deleted it already. So I deleted it in front of him: a zoomed out pic of a building). I have no idea how badly this could've gone if the dept. head was an enabler of their actions.