🔒 Personal data
Privacy and personal data What we collect, where it lives, who sees it, how long we keep it
This is not boilerplate. Every item below maps to a system that is actually running, including the third parties we rely on and the country your data physically sits in.
- Last updated 24 August 2026
- Applies to all of www.sop.com.ph
Who handles your data
The data controller is SOP Education Center Inc.
SOP International Language School is operated by SOP Education Center Inc., registered in the Philippines, with its campus in Cebu. Administration, contracts and student services for Taiwan are handled by BeLeader International Education (Tax ID 87589842).
This policy covers all of www.sop.com.ph, including every language version, the live chat widget, and the enrolment system hosted on this site.
For any question about your personal data, or to exercise any of the rights listed below, write to service@sop.com.ph.
First kind
What we record when you are only browsing
Anonymous page statistics, and nothing else. We do not use Google Analytics or any external analytics service — the counter is our own code, running on the same server as the site.
As a result, this site sets no cookies while you browse and stores no identifier in localStorage. That is why you will not see a cookie consent banner here: there is no tracking to consent to.
If your browser sends the Do Not Track signal, our counter stops entirely and records nothing.
Second kind
When you use the chat widget
The widget asks for your name and one way to reach you. This is not for a marketing list — web pages cannot send push notifications, so once you close the tab we have no way to reach you. That field is the only route an answer can travel back along.
Your messages and contact details are encrypted in our own database and cannot be read by unauthorised staff. We keep only an irreversible hash of your IP address, never the address itself.
**Your messages are relayed to our staff through Telegram.** Colleagues in Taiwan, Cebu and China receive and answer them there, and their replies come back to your chat window. This means the content passes through Telegram's servers, a messaging provider based outside the country. If you would rather your enquiry did not pass through a third party, please email or call us instead.
Chat records are kept for 12 months from the last message and then deleted in full, including the copy held in Telegram. An enquiry is not a contract, and there is no legitimate reason to keep it longer.
Third kind
When you complete an enrolment
Enrolment requires real identity data, because it ends up in a study-abroad service contract and in a Philippine Bureau of Immigration study permit application. This category receives our highest level of protection.
National ID numbers and passport images are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before being written to the database, with the key stored outside the web directory. The system does not, and cannot, display them in plain text.
To reduce transcription errors, passport images are sent to Anthropic for text recognition. Enrolment records sync to our Google Sheets for staff processing, and notifications are delivered by Telegram and email.
All personal data relating to an enrolment is kept for 5 years after the contract ends or the service is completed, then deleted or anonymised. The binding terms are those in the service agreement you read and accept during enrolment.
Full disclosure
The third parties we share data with
These are the services actually in use today. We share your data with no one else, and we do not sell, rent or trade personal data.
Our site and database are hosted on Alibaba Cloud's Hong Kong region, so your data physically resides in Hong Kong. If you are in mainland China or Taiwan, this constitutes a cross-border transfer.
We never pass your data to a third party for marketing purposes.
Students under 18
Data belonging to minors
Personal data belonging to students under 18 receives a higher level of protection and must be provided and consented to by a parent or guardian.
We do not process a minor's personal data without guardian consent. If you are under 18, please have a parent or guardian contact us on your behalf.
If we discover we have received a minor's data without guardian consent, we delete it on our own initiative.
Your rights
Access, correction, deletion, withdrawal of consent
You can ask us at any time what data we hold about you, ask us to correct anything wrong, or ask us to delete it. Write to service@sop.com.ph and we will act on it and tell you the outcome.
To avoid handing your data to someone impersonating you, we may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.
Some data cannot be deleted immediately — enrolment records that form part of a contract or a legal obligation, for example. Where that applies we will tell you exactly which items, on what basis, and the latest date by which they will be deleted, rather than leaving it vague.
Changes
When this policy last changed
This policy was last updated on 24 August 2026.
If we change what we collect, add a third-party processor, or alter a retention period, we will update this page and the date above. For significant changes we will say so on the site rather than changing it quietly.
Questions about this policy: service@sop.com.ph.