Terms of Service

In one line: AskPinoy is a free community directory. These are the rules for using it, listing on it and posting reviews.

Last updated October 3, 2026

The short version

• AskPinoy is a directory, not an agency. We list businesses. We don't provide, arrange or guarantee their work.
• A listing is not an endorsement. "Verified by AskPinoy" means four specific things we checked, and nothing more.
• Licensing is the business's responsibility. Before you hire, ask for the licence number and check the register yourself.
• You own what you post. You give us permission to show it.
• Be honest: first-hand reviews only, and true details on your listing.

1. Who we are

AskPinoy is run from Toronto, Ontario, Canada by Ramuel Batuigas, carrying on business as AskPinoy. "AskPinoy" is a business name registered in Ontario, not a separate company, so "AskPinoy", "we" and "us" in these Terms mean Ramuel Batuigas, and your agreement under these Terms is with that person. Anyone can look us up in the Ontario Business Registry: Business Identification Number 1001767265. You can reach us at ramuel@askpinoy.com or 33 Cathy Jean Cres., Etobicoke, ON M9V 4T2, Canada.

By using askpinoy.com, creating an account, adding or claiming a listing, or posting a review, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, Review Guidelines, Verification Standard and Listing Eligibility and Removal Policy. Those pages are part of these Terms.

2. What AskPinoy is, and is not

AskPinoy is a directory of Filipino-owned and Filipino-serving businesses. That is all it is.

• We are not an agency, broker, contractor, employer or referral service. We don't provide any of the services listed. We don't arrange, supervise or guarantee them. We don't take a cut.
• Your deal is with the business. If you hire, buy from or visit a business you found here, your agreement is with them. Prices, quality, safety, timing, refunds: all between you and them.
• A listing is not an endorsement. We publish listings broadly so the community can find each other. Being listed does not mean we recommend the business, inspected it or checked its licence. Where we have checked something, the page says exactly what and when.
• We're a small community project. Details come from the business, from a phone call with them, and from kababayan who suggest businesses. We confirm what we can. Things change. Call ahead.

3. Listing is not verification

Every listing shows what we know about it, and no more.

• "Shared by the community" means a kababayan suggested the business and the details are as reported.
• "Details confirmed {month}" means the owner confirmed the phone, the address or service area, and the category with us on that date.
• "Licence checked · {register} {number} · {month}" means we found that number on the regulator's own public register on that date. Licences can lapse. Check the register yourself before you hire.
• "Verified by AskPinoy" means every check in our Verification Standard was done in the last 12 months. Tap the badge to see each check and its date. A badge is not a recommendation. No badge doesn't mean anything is wrong; it means we haven't checked yet.
• A line that starts with "Ask for their…" appears on a business in a regulated trade or profession we haven't checked yet. It tells you what to ask for. Please do ask.

We never sell verification. It is free, and it is never tied to a paid plan.

4. Licensing is the business's responsibility

Some categories on AskPinoy are regulated: immigration consultants, electricians, gas and HVAC contractors, real estate, mortgage, insurance, lawyers and paralegals, dentists, doctors, remittance, car dealers, travel agencies, funeral homes, caregiver agencies and others. The full list is in the Listing Eligibility and Removal Policy.

• If you run a business in a regulated category, you must hold every licence, registration or authorisation the law requires, keep it current, and tell the truth about it on your listing. You must also follow any rule your regulator sets about advertising. Some require your licence number in every ad.
• We check registers; we don't police licences. A "Licence checked" line means we saw the number on the register on that date. It is not a promise that the licence is valid today or that the work is done to code.
• Immigration consultants are the one category we publish only after a CICC or law society check, because giving paid immigration advice without authorisation is against the law.
• If a listing claims a credential we can't find on the register, or a licence expires, we suspend or remove the listing.
• If you're a customer: the "Ask for their…" line is there for you. Get the number, check the register, and if something doesn't add up, report the listing rather than reviewing it. We'll check.

5. Your account

• You must be 18 or older to create an account, claim a listing or post a review.
• You sign in with a link we email you, or with Google. If you use Google, the name on your Google account becomes your public display name until you change it; the review form shows it to you before you post. We never store a password.
• Keep your email account secure. Anything done through your AskPinoy account counts as yours.
• One account per person. Don't sign in as someone else.
• You can delete your account any time: email us from the address on your account, and we confirm it's you before we do.

6. What you post: ownership, permission, promises

"Content" means anything you add to AskPinoy: reviews, replies, listing text, photos, corrections, reports and messages.

You keep ownership. Your content stays yours.

You give us permission to show it. By posting, you give AskPinoy a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, copy, resize, crop, display and distribute your content on askpinoy.com, in the preview image shown when a page is shared, and in any future AskPinoy app. The licence lasts as long as the content is on AskPinoy, plus the time it takes to fall out of backups (about eight weeks). If you choose to keep your reviews without your name when you delete your account, the licence for those reviews continues.

You promise that:

• it's yours, or you have the right to post it. This matters most for photos;
• anyone recognisable in a photo, other than you and your staff, agrees to appear;
• it's true as far as you know, and reflects your own experience;
• it's not copied from Google, another directory or someone else's site;
• it doesn't include other people's personal information: no phone numbers, emails, addresses or full names of private individuals;
• it's not illegal, hateful, harassing or threatening, and it doesn't advertise anything.

Photos we add for a business. With the owner's recorded permission, we may copy photos from the business's own website or Facebook page. The owner who gives that permission promises they own the photos or have the right to license them. Those photos are captioned "with permission" and come down on request.

Reviews. Reviews must follow the Review Guidelines. When you delete your account, your reviews are deleted too, unless you choose "keep my reviews without my name" at that moment. We can only keep a review that contains no personal information. We say this again on the review form.

We may remove content that breaks these Terms, the Review Guidelines or the law, or that we believe exposes someone to harm. We don't edit reviews. We may correct factual details on a listing (a phone number, hours, an address) when the owner or the community tells us they're wrong.

7. If you claim or manage a listing

Claiming is free. When you claim a listing, you promise that you own the business or are authorised to represent it. We confirm that by calling the number on the listing, or by reviewing a business document you send.

As an owner you agree to:

• Tell the truth in your attestations. If you tick "Filipino-owned", you are attesting that the business is at least half owned or controlled by people who identify as Filipino. If you tick "Filipino-serving", you are attesting to the criteria on the box. Both labels are public. You can withdraw either at any time — email us and it comes off within 2 business days.
• Keep your listing accurate: contact details, hours, service area, and especially licence details. Update it, or tell us, when something changes.
• Never review your own business, and don't ask staff, family or friends to. Don't offer discounts, gifts or contest entries for reviews. Don't pick and choose who you ask. A "review us" card or link that goes to every customer is fine.
• Reply, don't retaliate. You may reply once to each review, publicly. Don't include a customer's personal information in a reply. You can't edit, hide, delete or reorder reviews. You can report one, and we'll look within 2 business days.
• Give photo permission honestly. If you ask us to use photos from your website or Facebook page, you're promising you hold the rights to them and that any recognisable people agree.
• Use customer messages for that request only. Where the message form is on your page, a sender's details are for replying to them. Don't add them to a marketing list or pass them to anyone else.

You may close your listing, or ask us to remove it, at any time — email us and we act within 5 business days.

8. Removal, suspension and refusal

We can decline, suspend or remove any listing, review, reply, photo, message or account. We will where:

• a business isn't eligible under the Listing Eligibility and Removal Policy;
• a listing claims a credential we can't find on the regulator's register, or a required licence has expired;
• a listing offers paid immigration help without CICC or law society authorisation;
• a business is a multi-level marketing scheme;
• reviews are fake, paid for, or written by the owner, staff, relatives or competitors;
• content is harassing, hateful or illegal, or discloses someone's personal information;
• someone repeatedly breaks these Terms.

Anyone can ask us to remove a listing: the owner, a person whose name is on it, or anyone who spots a problem. Email ramuel@askpinoy.com and we act within 5 business days. A sole proprietor's listing is deleted, not just hidden.

A suspended listing comes back once the problem is fixed. If we close your account for breaking these Terms, please don't open another.

9. Paid placement

Today nobody pays AskPinoy for anything. When we offer paid visibility, every paid spot is labelled in plain text next to it, "Featured · Paid placement" or "Sponsored", never by colour or an icon alone. That includes a placement given in exchange for something other than money, such as a store displaying our cards.

Payment never changes a review, a rating, the order of ordinary search results, or whether a business is verified.

10. Messaging a business

Where a listing shows a message form, we pass your name, contact details and message to that business so they can reply. They may contact you about that request only. We don't promise they'll reply, and we're not part of whatever you agree with them. A few days later we email you once to ask whether they got back to you.

11. Other people's services

Business pages show a map from Google, which your browser loads directly from Google under Google's terms. Signing in with Google happens on Google's site under Google's terms. Our forms use Cloudflare Turnstile to block bots. Links to a business's website or social pages take you off AskPinoy. We're not responsible for those sites or services.

12. What we can and can't promise

We work hard to keep AskPinoy accurate and available. We're also a small project run by people, and the details come from businesses and the community.

• AskPinoy is provided "as is". We don't guarantee that any listing is accurate, complete or current; that a business is licensed, insured, safe or good; or that the site will always be available.
• We're not responsible for what a business does or doesn't do, for anything you buy or hire through a listing, or for what other members post.
• If we are ever liable to you for something connected with AskPinoy, our total liability is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. Today that is nothing, because AskPinoy is free.
• Nothing in these Terms takes away rights the law says you can't give up, including consumer protection rights in Ontario.

13. Changes to these Terms

We post changes here with a new "last updated" date. For a change that matters, we email account holders before it takes effect. If you keep using AskPinoy after that, the new Terms apply.

14. Which law applies

These Terms are governed by the laws of Ontario and the laws of Canada that apply in Ontario. A dispute we can't sort out by talking goes to the courts in Ontario. If we publish a Tagalog translation of these Terms and it differs from the English version, the English version applies.

15. Contact

ramuel@askpinoy.com · 33 Cathy Jean Cres., Etobicoke, ON M9V 4T2, Canada