Verification (KYC) Policy

Verification keeps Swipaw a place of real people and real pets 🐾 Here's how it works and how we protect what you share.

In short: We check your ID and a selfie and, for providers, their papers. Tao ang nagre-review, hindi robot. Only administrators open your files, and every view is logged. ID photos are deleted 30 days after approval. A badge means "documents checked", hindi garantiya.

1. About this policy#

1. Swipaw is operated by Parada Technologies Inc. ("Swipaw", "we"). This Verification Policy expands section 4 of the Terms of Service and forms part of them.
2. Verification (KYC) is our manual check of who you are and, for providers, of the pets, business and permits behind a listing. Each approved level gives a badge.

2. Levels and what they unlock#

1. Swiping, matching, chat and free playdates need only a verified e-mail and mobile number.
2. Basic (Verified Owner), part of every level, is needed to publish paid listings, accept paid bookings and get payouts and, by default, to send a paid request and pay under Payment Protection (Payments & Refunds Policy).
3. Stud (Verified Stud, on each approved pet) lets you offer stud services; Shelter (Verified Shelter) unlocks adoption listings and donations once they launch.
4. Business (Verified Business) is needed by corporations, partnerships and cooperatives for paid services other than stud, and by pet hotels and salon groomers, whose Mayor's permit and Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) status it checks.

3. What we collect (mga papeles)#

1. Basic: one current government photo ID (PhilSys, passport, driver's licence, UMID, SSS, PRC, postal or voter's ID, or another), front and back; a selfie holding it; your legal name, birthdate, nationality, ID type, expiry and the ID number's last four characters; and your address, with optional proof.
2. Stud: each offered pet's anti-rabies and core vaccination cards and any vet certificate, and your confirmation that you keep fewer than 20 breeding animals or your BAI kennel registration.
3. Business: name, type and address; DTI or SEC registration or business permit; permits such as the Mayor's permit; and, for animal facilities such as hotels, grooming salons and clinics, a BAI Certificate of Registration or a declaration that the BAI confirmed in writing that none is needed (Animal Welfare Act, RA 8485, as amended).
4. Shelter: organisation name and SEC or DTI registration; before adoption or donations open, also BAI registration and, for donations, a DSWD solicitation permit (Solicitation Permit Law, PD 1564).
5. Tax profile (paid providers): TIN, BIR-registered name, RDO, VAT status and Certificate of Registration (BIR Form 2303), plus any BIR-received Sworn Declaration or exemption certificate. Under BIR Revenue Regulations No. 16-2023, marketplaces may accept only BIR-registered sellers, so paid listings go live only once it is verified.
6. Later services: vets add PRC licences (Veterinary Medicine Act, RA 9268) and pet taxis LTFRB papers (Public Service Act, CA 146).
7. Send only true documents that are yours, and only in the app; staff never ask for them elsewhere.

4. Consent and the Data Privacy Act#

1. Your ID images, selfie and birthdate are sensitive personal information under the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173), processed on your specific consent (§13(a)): with each submission you tick an empty box after a short notice, and we record which notice and when. Accepting the Terms is not this consent.
2. For providers, BIR rules and the seller checks of the Internet Transactions Act of 2023 (RA 11967) add a legal basis (§13(b)); records kept after a withdrawal also rest on legal claims (§13(f)).
3. We use verification data only to confirm identity and age, catch one ID on two accounts, award badges, share names under clause 6.3, check payout-account names and meet seller and tax rules; your ID, selfie and documents are never used for marketing or sold. Reviewers compare selfie and ID by eye: we use no automated face matching and keep no biometric templates, and would add them only after a privacy impact assessment, a new notice and your fresh consent.
4. Withdrawal. You may withdraw consent anytime, free, through our Data Protection Officer (DPO) at [email protected]. Once open bookings and payouts settle, your levels and badges end, with the paid listings and payouts they unlock; remaining non-tax files are deleted and only the records in clauses 7.2 and 7.3 stay.

5. How we review#

1. A trained reviewer checks that your ID is genuine, current and readable and that the selfie and your details match it, aiming to decide within 48 hours of a complete submission.
2. Automatic flags (the same ID or TIN on another account, a birthdate under 18, an expired ID, many attempts, a brand-new account, a mismatched name) only guide reviewers, except that a birthdate under 18 is declined automatically.
3. You hear back in the app and by e-mail: approved; needs a fix, saying what to resend; or rejected, with reasons.
4. A hard rejection (under-age, a forged, altered or borrowed document, or another serious reason we state) blocks new submissions for 30 days. Under the Terms, minors' accounts close, and false documents mean a permanent ban and a report to the authorities.

6. Who sees your documents#

1. Only staff with the administrator or super-administrator role, signed in with two-factor authentication, can open verification documents; support staff see only the queue and your status.
2. Reviewers must log a purpose before any document opens. Links expire after 120 seconds, images carry a "SWIPAW KYC" watermark naming the reviewer and time, and every view and decision is logged and kept 5 years.
3. Sharing:
   • the other party of a confirmed booking: your verified legal name (for a business, its registered name and address);
   • a requester's payment acknowledgement: the provider's legal or business name and, once verified, BIR-registered name and TIN;
   • Xendit Philippines, Inc.: a provider's account-holder details (legal name, birthdate, nationality, contact details, address, business name) to open the sub-account where Xendit holds the provider's booking payments until release; Xendit runs its own checks, without ID images from us;
   • the BIR: tax details in our withholding returns and alphalist; the Department of Trade and Industry, on lawful request: our provider register, kept and regularly verified under the Internet Transactions Act (§21(c));
   • others only when the law requires, through our DPO.

7. How long we keep it#

1. We delete verification files other than tax documents 30 days after approval, 90 days after a rejection or request to fix, 7 days after an under-age decision, and at once when a deleted account is anonymised.
2. Tax documents stay with your tax records for 10 years.
3. The verification record (the details you gave and our decisions, without images) stays while your account exists and for five years after your last paid booking or payout or, without either, until anonymisation.
4. An open dispute, report, investigation or legal request places a legal hold that pauses deletion.

8. What badges mean#

1. Verified Owner, Verified Stud, Verified Business and Verified Shelter: a reviewer checked the documents given to us, at that time. Vaccination Verified: our team checked the pet's cards and every current anti-rabies and core record, until a vaccine falls due or a record changes. Pedigree Verified: we saw matching papers, unconfirmed by any registry. BAI-registered: a verified, unexpired BAI Certificate of Registration is on file, never just a declaration. Certified by a named body, once training launches: we verified that certificate.
2. No badge is a background check, licence, endorsement or guarantee of anyone's conduct, a pet's health or a service's quality; documents can lapse or be false, so use your judgement and report concerns.
3. Public: badges, a verified business's or shelter's registered name and, once vet services launch, PRC licence numbers. Never public: individuals' legal names, ID images and details, selfies, birthdates, home addresses, TINs, tax documents and payout details.

9. Keeping it current#

1. We send reminders before your ID, BAI registration or a permit expires and when it does, to providers yearly, and to Sworn Declaration holders before 20 January; then refresh your verification in the app.
2. Expired documents stop counting: a listing needing one cannot be published or resumed, and the BAI-registered badge drops. We may withdraw a level, with written reasons, if a document proves false or lapses or the account breaks the Terms.

10. Appeals and your rights#

1. Disagree with a decision, even an automatic one? Open a Help Center ticket or write to [email protected]. Someone not involved re-examines it and replies with reasons, aiming for 7 days (Complaints page); if we erred, we fix it and lift any waiting period.
2. To appeal on privacy grounds, see, correct or delete your verification data or withdraw consent, write to our DPO at [email protected]; we answer within 30 working days. You may also complain to the National Privacy Commission (Privacy Notice).