Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Sama (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with Republic Act 10173, the Data Privacy Act of 2012 of the Philippines. This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights.

2. Information We Collect

When you create an account:

• •Full name
• •Email address
• •Phone number
• •Facebook profile URL (optional) — shared with organizers of trips you book to facilitate group chat invitations.

In your profile (optional):

• •Date of birth - shown to trip organizers for safety and registration records.
• •A default emergency contact (name and phone) that is reused to pre-fill your bookings. Unlike a booking-specific emergency contact, this profile copy persists with your account until you change or remove it.

When you make a booking:

• •Number of slots booked
• •Emergency contact name and phone number
• •Medical notes or allergies (optional)
• •Selected pickup point
• •Payment information (processed by PayMongo — we do not store card details)

When you confirm as a participant:

• •Full name
• •Emergency contact details
• •Medical notes
• •Waiver acceptance and timestamp

When you apply as an organizer:

• •Full name, display name, phone, bio
• •Social media profile URLs (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) — displayed publicly on your organizer profile.
• •Evidence of past trips
• •Activity types and years of experience
• •Emergency certification status
• •Payout details (bank account or GCash number) used to remit your earnings from completed trips.

Automatically collected:

• •Browser type and device information
• •Pages visited and time spent
• •IP address
• •IP address at the time of waiver acceptance, for legal record-keeping purposes

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• •Create and manage your account
• •Process bookings and payments
• •Send booking confirmations and trip reminders
• •Allow organizers to contact confirmed participants
• •Review and approve organizer applications
• •Improve the platform and user experience
• •Comply with legal obligations

4. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal data. We share your information only with:

• •Organizers — your name, email, phone, emergency contact, pickup point, and medical notes are shared with the organizer of trips you book
• •PayMongo — payment processing. Their privacy policy applies to payment data
• •Resend — transactional email delivery
• •Supabase — database and authentication infrastructure
• •Vercel — hosting infrastructure
• •Sentry — error monitoring and diagnostics; receives technical information such as IP address and device/browser details to help us detect and fix problems
• •Legal authorities — if required by Philippine law

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as required by law. Personal data associated with cancelled bookings is retained for record-keeping purposes. You may request deletion of your personal data at any time by deleting your account or contacting hello@sama.com.ph. Booking and payment records, including consent and waiver records, are retained for a minimum of 10 years for legal, financial, and dispute resolution purposes.

Health information (medical notes and allergies) and emergency-contact information attached to a specific booking are used only to support participant safety for that booked trip. This sensitive data is kept for a shorter retention period than the rest of the booking record: it is automatically deleted 90 days after the trip ends. The surrounding booking, payment, consent, and waiver records are retained for the longer legal and financial period described above, but the health and emergency-contact fields within them are permanently stripped once the 90-day window passes. This is why a booking record may persist for up to 10 years while its medical notes and emergency-contact details do not.

Separately, if you save a default emergency contact in your profile, that profile copy persists with your account until you remove it or delete your account, because it is reused to pre-fill your future bookings. You can edit or clear your profile emergency contact at any time in your profile settings.

Profile photos and trip photos uploaded to Sama are permanently deleted from our storage when you delete your account.

6. Your Rights Under the Data Privacy Act

As a data subject under RA 10173, you have the right to:

• •Access — request a copy of your personal data we hold
• •Correction — request correction of inaccurate data
• •Erasure — delete your account from your profile settings, or contact us to request deletion of specific data. Note that booking, payment, consent, and waiver records are retained for the legal periods described in Data Retention above (up to 10 years), so some records may be kept, in limited form, even after an erasure request, where the law requires it.
• •Object — object to the processing of your personal data
• •Portability — request your data in a portable format
• •File a complaint — with the National Privacy Commission (NPC)

You can delete your account at any time from your profile settings. To exercise any other rights, contact us at hello@sama.com.ph. We will respond within 15 business days.

7. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data including:

• •Encrypted data storage via Supabase
• •Secure HTTPS connections
• •Strict access controls that limit administrative access to authorized personnel only.
• •Regular security reviews

In the event of a data breach affecting your rights, we will notify you and the National Privacy Commission within 72 hours of discovery.

8. Cookies

Sama uses cookies and similar technologies to maintain your session and improve your experience. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, though this may affect platform functionality.

9. Children's Privacy

Sama is not intended for users under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email. Continued use of the platform after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact and Complaints

For privacy concerns or to exercise your rights:

• •Email: hello@sama.com.ph
• •You may also file a complaint with the National Privacy Commission at www.privacy.gov.ph