Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains what information filipinos.sg (“we”, “us”, “our”) collects when you visit our website, how we use it, who we share it with, and your choices. By using the site you agree to this policy.

1. Who we are

filipinos.sg is a community editorial website for Filipinos in Singapore. You can contact us at hello@filipinos.sg. Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) can be reached at the same address.

2. Information we collect

We collect only what we need to run the site:

• Automatically: anonymous analytics such as pages visited, referring site, rough geographic location (country-level), device type, browser, and approximate time spent, via tools such as Google Analytics and Vercel Web Analytics.
• Heatmaps and session replays: on news and guide pages we use Microsoft Clarity to see where readers tap, scroll and get stuck, so we can fix the layout. Clarity masks text you type into forms, and it never runs on account, order, SULIT! or admin pages. It sets no cookies unless you accept cookies in our banner. See Microsoft's privacy statement.
• Advertising data: cookies and identifiers used by Google AdSense and other ad partners to serve relevant ads, frequency-cap them, and measure performance.
• Voluntary: information you share with us directly — e.g. your email when you contact us, submit a story tip, or sign up for our newsletter.
• SULIT! membership data (only if you sign up — see Section 13): your name, email, and profile photo from your Google account, plus the interests, region, and notification preferences you choose. We also store the articles you save, the SULIT! Rewards promos you redeem, your loyalty point balance and transaction history, and any badges you earn.

We do not intentionally collect information from children under 13.

3. How we use information

• Operate, maintain, and improve filipinos.sg.
• Understand what content readers find useful.
• Respond to enquiries you send us.
• Send newsletters and updates only to people who have opted in.
• Serve and measure advertising, including personalised ads where you have consented.
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents.

4. Cookies and similar technologies

filipinos.sg uses cookies and similar technologies for four reasons:

• Essential cookies — needed for the site to work (e.g. load balancing, security).
• Authentication cookies — if you sign in to your SULIT! member account, we set a secure session cookie (fis_member_session) so you stay signed in across pages. SULIT! affiliate businesses use a separate workspace cookie (fis_active_company) to remember which company they're acting as. These cookies expire when your session does and are removed on sign-out.
• Analytics cookies — help us understand site usage in aggregate.
• Advertising cookies — set by Google AdSense and other ad partners to show relevant ads and measure their effectiveness.

You can control cookies through your browser settings or, where shown, through our consent banner. Blocking some cookies may affect how the site works.

5. Advertising — Google AdSense

filipinos.sg participates in the Google AdSense programme as a publisher. Google and its partners use cookies and device identifiers to serve ads based on your visits to this site and other sites on the internet. In particular, Google uses the DoubleClick cookie to enable this.

Learn more about how Google uses data in its advertising policies and its partner-site policy.

You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings or by using industry opt-out tools at optout.aboutads.info and youronlinechoices.eu.

6. Third-party services

We rely on the following third parties to operate filipinos.sg. Each has its own privacy policy:

• Vercel (hosting, analytics, and the Vercel Blob storage that holds SULIT! member data)
• Google (AdSense, Analytics, and Google Sign-In for SULIT! member authentication)
• Unsplash and other image CDNs
• Email providers used for newsletters and enquiry responses

When you sign in with Google, only your name, email, and profile photo are shared with us — we never receive or store your Google password and we never post on your behalf.

Third-party links on our articles (e.g. government websites, partner organisations) are not covered by this policy. Please review their own privacy notices.

7. Data retention

We keep analytics data in aggregated form for as long as it remains useful. Enquiry emails are kept only as long as needed to respond to you and comply with our legal obligations. Newsletter subscribers can unsubscribe at any time.

For SULIT! members, we keep your account data for as long as your account is active. When you ask us to delete your account (see Section 8), we permanently remove your profile, saved articles, notification preferences, and any unredeemed loyalty points within 30 days. We retain a minimal record of your past redemptions and audit-log entries — without your name or email — for fraud-prevention and accounting purposes for up to 24 months.

8. Your rights (Singapore PDPA & GDPR)

Under Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), and — if applicable to you — the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data
• Withdraw consent (where processing relies on consent)
• Request deletion of your personal data, subject to legal requirements
• Object to certain uses, including personalised advertising

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@filipinos.sg. We will respond within a reasonable time.

9. International data transfers

Our service providers may process data outside Singapore (for example in the United States or the European Union). Where we do so, we require those providers to apply protections consistent with the PDPA and other applicable laws.

10. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the information we hold. No system is 100% secure. If you believe your data has been compromised, please contact us at once.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected in the “last updated” date above. Please check back occasionally.

13. SULIT! membership & rewards

SULIT!(Filipino for “worth it”) is the optional membership and rewards layer of filipinos.sg. You can read everything on the site without signing up — SULIT! is only for people who want to save articles, redeem partner promos, and earn loyalty points.

Sign-in

We use Google Sign-In as the primary way to authenticate. We never see or store your Google password. From your Google account we receive only your name, email address, profile photo, and a stable Google account identifier — used solely to recognise you when you return.

What we store on your behalf

• Your display name, username (auto-generated; you can rename twice), profile photo, optional bio
• The interests, region, and notification preferences you choose
• The articles you save
• The SULIT! Rewards promos you redeem, including time, channel (QR or code entry), and outcome
• Your loyalty points balance and full transaction history (append-only ledger)
• Badges and trust level you earn
• Hashed (one-way) device and IP fingerprints used to detect fraud — never stored in clear

Marketing & communications consent

Marketing emails are opt-in only. We default the marketing checkbox to OFF during onboarding. The weekly digest and promo alerts are switched ON by default because they are part of the membership benefit; you can turn either off any time at /account/notifications.

SULIT! Affiliate businesses

If you apply to participate as a SULIT! affiliate company, we collect the company information you submit (name, registration number, contact details, audience description). Approved companies see only aggregated, anonymised redemption analytics for their own promos — they never see individual member identities. Cohorts smaller than five redeemers are suppressed.

Account deletion

You can request deletion of your SULIT! account and all linked data at any time by emailing hello@filipinos.sg from your registered address. We confirm and complete deletions within 30 days, subject to the retention exception in Section 7.

We do not sell your data

We do not sell, rent, or trade member data. SULIT! member data is never shared with affiliate companies or any other third party except as required to operate the service (e.g. Google for sign-in, Vercel for hosting).

14. Contact us

Questions? Email hello@filipinos.sg. See also our Terms of Use.