Open Government Data Philippines * by Jane Florie L. Mora Introduction In the Philippines, unearthing documents is not easy. Although researchers do not have to literally unearth these documents, the challenge that the bureaucracy poses to them is difficult to overcome. Acquiring data for research purposes is still subject to the bureaucratic red tape which delays the research process. Government data, which are public properties in the first place, are hidden from the people. Government data which may help improve the research literature of the Philippines are kept in the protective walls of each government agency, serving as a barrier between the researchers and the documents that can give direction to their studies. Although the deliberations on the Freedom of Information Bill is already rolling in the Congress, this does not guarantee that researchers will be better off when it comes to data acquisition. It is one thing to talk about the availability of the government data and it is another to talk about their accessibility. Almost five years ago, the government of the Philippines launched the website, data.gov.ph. Its main aim is to provide searchable, understandable and accessible government data, especially datasets, infographics and visualizations. However, up to this day, the site does not provide a good archive of government sources. It is still incomplete and lacks organization. Data from years ago are still not uploaded to the site. Up to this day, the site can only offer 923 datasets in total. Other government agencies still do not comply with the standards of maintaining an open data government. Moreover, in the Philippines, research funded by the government are commonly * This policy proposal is made in partial fulfillment of the requirements in Political Science 152, an undergraduate course on the Philippine Legislative System for Political Science Majors in UP Diliman. 1
purposive – the purpose of the research is so specific and they are problem-based. They do not, for example, subject government data, even if available, to testing to find patterns of why things are leading to certain outcomes. In my opinion, subjecting data collected by the government to analysis from time to time is a must because it can give us a better idea on how to solve societal problems. From there, we can discover other relationships that we cannot think of solely based on our intuition. Datasets must not just be uploaded in the data.gov.ph website, it must also be interpreted from time to time. Posting datasets online is a win-win situation for both the people in the academe and research field and the government. Students can repeatedly subject government data to different analyses. The research process will be easier for the students, and at the same time, the government can get something from the students' research projects. Providing easier access to government data will also encourage researchers, especially students, to get their sample from the Philippines. As for the government, upon providing the people with digital copies of the datasets, they are also helping themselves organize their records and back up their files. In a tropical country like the Philippines, it is expensive to maintain physical document copies because they can be easily destroyed due to the weather conditions. Creating a comprehensive online database can also help the Philippine government in securing that its files will not be lost.
Proposal My proposal is for the Congress to pass an implementing law of the open data government project. Only then will each government agency be truly required to comply with its requirements. The government shall also allocate more budget for the restoration of documents and for its encoding. The government shall also encourage researchers to use the rich data that
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they will be able to provide once everything has been digitized. And, from time to time, the government must provide research grants to skilled researchers to do a comprehensive study on the data that they are able to collect. As for the implementation, I also suggest that the government shall put the duty of maintaining the data.gov.ph website to a new commission which will be known as the Open Government Commission. The proposal will be discussed further and in more detail in the latter part of this paper.
Rationale This proposal stems from the fact that, indeed, there have already been policies that the government is implementing to make sure that we are gradually becoming an open government data regime. The problem is that it is only made possible through a joint memorandum released by three of the offices under the executive branch. Because it is only within the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judiciary are only encouraged to comply—they are not required. Providing an implementing law will widen the scope and coverage of the Open Government Partnership. In a more normative sense, providing an open government data helps increase transparent and accountable governance. It also promotes participation and collaboration between the government and the people. Transparency provides the path to accountability. How can be hold public officers accountable if we do not know what they do or what is the effect of what they do? By making the government transparent, we do not make them unaccountable for what they do. Therefore data.gov.ph is important. By providing the information about the activities of the government, people are empowered. It promotes citizen empowerment by respecting the right of the people to be informed of the government's activities and the state of the nation.
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This is also in-line with the goals of Anti-Red Tape Act, the National Archives of the Philippines Act, and the Open Government Partnership.
Survey of Existing Policies/Intervention in the Philippines The Philippines joined the Open Government Partnership in 2011. It is one of the eight founding members of the partnership. However, until today, the status of the Philippines in the Open Government Partnership site, remains to be in the development of an action plan. Meaning, it still has not fulfilled its responsibilities in the Philippines. However, in January 2014, in compliance with the requirements of being part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), the Philippine government established its website, data.gov.ph. This is done in partnership with different government agencies to ensure the provision of information, datasets, and infographics and visualizations that the people need to see. People may use the data provided in the website for research, investigation and other things they wish to do with it; they just need to properly cite the source of the data and they are good to go. To fulfill the duties of the government of the Philippines in the Open Government Partnership, three offices under the executive branch release some joint memoranda in 2014 and in 2015. However, its coverage is only limited to the executive branch. The Philippines still does not have a Freedom of Information Bill but even so, only the House Bill has a section that integrates the open government data portal with the bill. Even the executive order of President Rodrigo Duterte on Freedom of Information does not have a section on open government data.
Feasibility As stated above, the Philippine government has already started working in creating a
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more open government. The action plan that the government created is being used as of this writing. Having an action plans that is being implemented from 2014 to 2016 and from 2015 to 2017 are already an enough validation that the government has the capacity and capability to maintain an open government data portal.
The next section of this paper will discuss the existing policies and intervention that the government has done. It will include the bills, memorandum, partnerships, executive orders, etc. that the government has implemented. The next section will discuss my policy proposal. The rationale and the feasibility of the proposal will also be discussed. More importantly, a more detailed discussion of the proposal itself and how it can be implemented will be provided. The last section will summarize the whole paper. It will also discuss the limitations of this proposal and the challenges that need to be conquered.
Existing Policies/Intervention
World Initiatives Transparency has become a trend in today's government. At the end of 2014, 59 nations already have a Freedom of Information Law compared to the 11 nations in the 1980's. (Bertot, Jieger and Grimes 2010) In 2009, the commitment of then US President Obama to transparency materialized as he signed the “Open Government Directive” and the memo directing the development of a Freedom of Information Act. (Coglianese 2009) The new developments in the information and communications technologies have been integrated in the operations of the government. One of the impact of these technological
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innovations can be seen in the use of the term “e-government” and now, of “open data government” or simply “open government.” (Bertot, Jieger and Grimes 2010; Harrison et. al 2012; Nam 2012) In 2011, The Open Government Partnership is an organization of various states that are committed to “building trust and fostering collaboration between governments and their citizens to improve development outcomes.” (Lindroth 2016) It is committed to making government transparent, participatory, and collaborative. (McDermott 2010; Harrison et. al 2012) Open Data Philippines The Open Data Philippines, according to the Open Data Philippines Action Plan 20142016, aims to provide a “transparent, accountable, and participatory governance through open government data.” The principles of the ODP are as follows: (1) access to public sector information; (2) data-driven governance; (3) public engagement; and (4) practical innovation. It also aims to forward the thinking that open data is the default. Machine-readable, reusable, costfree, and contextualized open data is the best suitable form for government data. Government data shall, by default, come as open data. The action plan also stated that “the ODP is led by an interagency Task Force comprised of the OPS, PCDSPO, and DBM.” The three agencies are chosen because their main function as a government agency is aligned with what the Open Data Philippines project aims to provide. The task force is in-charge of the implementation of ODP and the action plan. As for the coverage of the ODP, only the “departments and agencies of the executive branch of the GPH, including state universities and colleges (SUCs), and government-owned and/or –controlled corporations (GOCCs)” are required to comply while the Congress, Judiciary, Constitutional Commissions, and Office of the Ombudsman are only highly encouraged. The ODP also stated that the open government data portal, data.gov.ph shall offer data
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that are searchable, understandable and accessible. The portal shall provide datasets and visualizations that are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution. Anyone can use data and visualizations for as long as they properly credit the owner of the data. The action plan also included agenda for the encouragement of the use of the open government data portal within the government, of the public, and of global stakeholders. It provided a list of long-term goals and it listed the legislation of an open government data policy as one of the measures that the government can take to maintain the practice of open government data. Much detail in the actual plans are given in the action plan for 2015 to 2017.
Joint Memoranda of the OPS, DBM and PCDSPO The Office of the Presidential Spokesperson (OPS), Secretary of the Department of Budget
and
Management
and
the
Undersecretary of the Presidential Communications
Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) released the Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2014-01 with the subject, Open Data Philippines on the 22nd of January 2014. The memorandum informed the different government agencies of the existence of the data.gov.ph, citing that “this is a strategic program in supporting the Key Result Area of transparent, accountable, and participatory governance as laid out in Executive Order No. 43, Series of 2011.” Although the memorandum was addressed to all the agencies that will be mentioned, the coverage of the memorandum only covers the departments, bureaus, offices, and other agencies of the national government, including state universities and colleges, and government-owned and/or -controlled corporations. The Congress of the Philippines, the judiciary, constitutional
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commissions, and the Office of Ombudsman are only encouraged to participate. The memorandum also informed the addressees that the Philippines is involved with the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and that a task force have already been created to develop data.gov.ph. It also outlined some of the principle of the OGP Initiative that have been mentioned above. Another memorandum, the Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2015-01 was again released by the OPS, DBM, and the PCDSPO on the 18 th of May 2015. The memorandum was addressed to the same offices. However, the subject of the memorandum was Guidelines for the Implementation of the Open Government Data General Provision in the 2015 Appropriations Act. The coverage is the same. While some are required, others are only encouraged to participate. It reiterated the principles and requirements stipulated in the Open Data Philippines Action Plan. It reminded the agencies that their open data champion must publish their datasets. For those who still do not have an Open Data Champion, the memorandum asked the offices to immediately assign one.
Freedom of Information Among the bills and even the infamous executive order on Freedom of Information, only the House version has a section that includes a clause on open government data. Section 25: Publication of Government Data in the Open Data Philippines Website of House Bill 01855 of the 17th Congress introduced by Rep. Sol Aragones states that, “For the purpose of enhancing the public's access to government information and abiding by the Philippines' international commitments to transparency and government openness, all government agencies shall publish in the Open Data Philippines website datasets generated in the implementation of agency mandates, programs, activities, and projects.
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These datasets shall be updated, whenever permissible, at least once every quarter of the year. The Open Data website shall be maintained and administered by an Open Data Task Force under the Office of the President, or any such similar body designated by the President for this purpose. For the purpose of making government data more accessible to the public, all datasets published on the Open Data Philippines website and on LGU website as mandated in Section 9 of this act shall be, whenever practicable, of a machinereadable and open format.”
Recommendation for Improvements Various scholars have proposed to have a measure of transparency, and the readiness of the government to become truly transparent through the open government data regime. (Bertot, Jieger and Grimes 2010) Evaluation techniques of existing mechanism are also encouraged. (Bertot, Jieger and Grimes 2010) Most of all, it is suggested that government shall give more importance on engaging various stakeholders to address the gap between the two. (Bertot, Jieger and Grimes 2010; Harrison et. al 2012; Lindroth 2016; Nam 2012) Aside from this, government are also encouraged to have a mechanism to evaluate on how much impact the open government has in the citizen and various stakeholders. They are also encouraged to know the purpose to which the stakeholders are using the open government data portal. The government shall also not focus on the supply side only but also ask for the demands of the citizens, although it is not guaranteed that they can really provide the information that the people are looking for. (Evans and Campos 2012; Center for Technology in Government 2012) Most of all, the open government data regime in every country must be institutionalized to enable continuity and the progress of the project. (Evans and Campos 2012; Center for Technology in Government 2012; Lindroth 2016)
Proposed Solution and its Implementation
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The act shall be popularly known as the Open Government Data Act. It will be intended as the policy that will provide for the integration of providing government data as one of the vital functions of each government agency. The data that they will provide must come in a format that is easily readable and must all be accessible through the website, data.gov.ph—the open government data portal. The portal shall provide data that are open for anyone's use, re-use and redistribution. The only requirement is for the users to cite the data source. This policy shall be implemented in all government agencies in the Philippines. The policy shall require each government agency to continuously upload datasets in the portal, data.gov.ph. It shall also require the agencies to upload their past datasets. The executive branch, the legislative branch, the judiciary, and even the constitutional commissions shall all be required to comply with the law. Local Government Units shall also be required to comply with the provision of the Open Government Data Act. No government agency shall be exempted from compliance with the Open Government Data Act unless otherwise provided by law.
Rationale Every person in the country has the right to information, most especially, government information. As provided by Section 7, Article III of the 1987 Philippine Constitution: “The right of the people to information in matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers, pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.” The statement above provides the constitutional right of the people to information. From
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this, it shall be recognized that every citizen of the Philippines is entitled to access to government information. Additionally, as it is not stated in the constitution, it must also be recognized that statistics, datasets, and other derived government information are also included in the information that the citizens have the right to see, use, and scrutinize. Moreover, as provided in the constitution as well, government data, are used as instruments by various scholars and researchers to make the Philippines a better place. The citizens may only be limited to view data that are considered confidential, and which, upon disclosure, may affect the Philippines negatively, sabotage government operations, and/or destroy the image of the state. Upon the implementation of this act, every government agency is mandated to provide government data and information which are deemed relevant and necessary to be accessed by the people. The categorization of which government data and information are relevant and necessary shall be done by the implementing agency assigned by this law. This law is also in-line with other laws such as the following: (1) the Anti-Red Tape Act, which promotes accountability, proper management of public affairs, effective practices that eliminate graft and corruption, transparency, and elimination of red tape; the National Archives of the Philippines Act, which promotes the protection and conservation of historical and cultural resources and other public records, documentation of records of culture, history, and government, accessibility of public records, proper management and administration of records, fullness and accuracy of records, and the creation of an inventory of public records; and (3) the disclosure provision of the annual General Appropriations Act. The very implementation of the Open Government Data Act satisfies some of the goals of these previous legislations that are already being implemented by the national government. It shall promote transparency and
accountability,
the elimination of graft and corruption,
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documentation, protection and conservation of government records and information, accessibility of government information, and the creation of a comprehensive list of government information that can be accessed through the open government data portal. On the other hand, the open government data act shall limit the access to private information as stipulated in the Data Privacy Act to make sure that the government balances privacy and openness and does not step on the individual right to privacy of the citizens. This law is also in line with the Open Government Partnership that the Philippines entered in September 2011. It is aligned with the partnership's goal to “to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.” (Open Government Partnership 2016)
Open Government Commission The implementing rules and regulations of this act shall be created by the implementing agency within the deadline that the act will set. A new commission which shall then be known as the Open Government Commission, shall be created upon the approval of this act. The Open Government Commission will be composed of the executive director, deputy directors, and the division heads. The executive directors are, primarily, to oversee the courses of action that each division is adopting, and together with the help of the deputy directors and division heads, to come up with ways on how to continuously improve the management and administration of the open government data portal, data.gov.ph. The divisions shall be divided depending on the role that they perform. The roles that are vital to the creation of an open government data regime are the following: (1) maintenance of the open government data portal, data.gov.ph; (2) enhancement of data encoding, transmission, reporting, preservation, etc.; (3) inspection of the sufficiency and
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accuracy of the government data and information; (4) communication with the other government agencies; (5) monitoring of the use of the open government data; (6) promotion of the use of the open government data portal; and (7) doing the operational work of the commission. The work of the Maintenance Division is focused on the open government data portal. Their work is mainly to secure that the open government data portal is working. The task of improving the interface of the open government data portal are also assigned to them. The next division is somehow the Research and Development Division that are commonly seen in various agencies. Their main role is to look for ways on how to improve the various operations of the commission. They are also in-charge of keeping the processes in the commission and the open government data portal up-to-date. The technological innovations that the open government data portal will use in the future are also assigned to them. The Inspections Division is assigned in checking that the government data submitted by various agencies are working, has sufficient information, accurate, and relevant. This division is tasked to maintain the quality of government data that can be found in the open government data portal. The Communications Division is incharge of relating with the government agencies that are required to submit government data and information. Their task is to remind all the government agencies of their deadlines and to make sure that the government agencies are complying with the Open Government Data Act. All communications between the Open Government Commission and the other government agencies must be done through this division. The Monitoring Division is in-charge with the use of government data. They are the ones directly communicating with the users of government data that can be found in the open government data portal. They shall make sure that the users of government data are giving back to the government by sending their outputs to the Commission. The minimum requirement that the users must give to the Commission is their main findings.
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The Promotions Division is tasked to encourage the public to use the readily available government data that can be found in the open government data portal. Their main task is to engage various stakeholders and encourage them to do research using the open government data. The greater goal of this division is to develop an ecosystem of a research-driven development and governance. Finally, the Operations Division are composed of the people that are deployed to various government agencies. They are the ones that will be tasked to maintain the openness of the respective agency they are assigned to. They shall also be the head of the group that will be tasked to provide government data in various agencies. The Operations Division shall also have a separate subdivision that will be tasked to acquire the government data backlogs of various government agencies. The subdivision shall be dissolved once the government data and information backlogs are acquired.
Open Government Data Portal The open government data portal will be accessible through the link, data.gov.ph. It shall serve as the main hub of all government data and information in the Philippines. The open government data portal shall be handled and maintained by the Open Government Commission.
Accessibility The access to the government data shall not be limited. In the open government data portal, a user registration must be available. Each person who wishes to download government data must have an account in the open government data portal. This system is important for the Monitoring Division to check who are using the government data. This is also to fulfill one of the goals of the Open Government Data Act which is to promote research-driven development and
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governance. This is a mechanism that will ensure that the researchers are giving back to the Open Government Commission. The output that the user will be giving to the Open Government Commission shall only be for the government's sole use and not for their redistribution. Users shall be entitled the right to their output. Furthermore, so as not to limit the free use of data, only those who will download more than ten datasets will be asked to provide their findings in relation to the government data that they downloaded. Data acquisition shall be free of monetary charge. No person shall be denied using the open government data portal. As the data and information that will appear in the open government data portal shall already be inspected, deemed relevant, and the disclosure thereof proven to be safe, no person shall be denied access to any data and information that are in the open government data portal. As for the user registration, the requirement, aside from vital information such as name, age, nationality, etc., shall only be a working e-mail address and a photo of any valid identification card.
Publication The people in the Operations Division shall be in-charge of the annual publication of government data in the open government data portal. The release of new government data and information shall be announced in the homepage of the open government data portal. In cases wherein an agency already has a portal of their own, the agency's portal must be accessible through the open government data portal. There must also be an index of the links to the data and information of various government agencies. The index shall, as well, be updated annually. The publication of new government data and information shall not be later than ninety days after the end of a year.
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Promotion The Promotions Division shall head the encouragement of the use of the open government data portal. The division shall encourage students, researchers, professors, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to use government data in their research. The promotions division shall also engage with partnership with different entities for the use of the government data and information in their research. For example, the Open Government Commission may enter in a partnership with a university. The university, as one of the entities promoting research shall require some of its students, researcher, or even faculty, to do research on the Philippines using the data and information that can be found in the open government data portal. The Open Government Commission and the university may share on the amount of the research grant for faculties, for example. The university can also use the data and information that can be found in the open government data portal as exercises in its research methods courses. The output of the students will be submitted to the Open Government Commission, and in turn, the Open Government Commission will give research grants to the university. These are only some of the possible partnerships that the Commission can enter in order to promote the use of the government data and information in research.
Feedback In order to ensure feedback, users shall be required to answer a survey after downloading a bundle of government data from the open government data portal. This survey will ask the users about the helpfulness of the open government data portal, whether or not the users are able
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to find the what they are looking for, etc. Furthermore, users will also be required to answer a short survey after they reported their findings. They will be asked about the quality of the dataset that they downloaded, its usefulness in their research, the sufficiency of the dataset, whether or not they will still use the open government data portal in the future, etc.
Feasibility This proposal will work because it institutionalizes the creation of an open government data portal. It also creates a new implementing body that will oversee the maintenance and development of the Open Government Data Portal. The proposal is specific enough to provide both openness and privacy to the government and the users. It also has a mechanism that will ensure that people will be giving back to the project. Furthermore, it only formalizes the Open Government Data Project which the government is already doing.
Conclusion The
problem of inaccessibility
of government data poses a difficulty to
the
implementation of studies that may be helpful for the growth and development of a country. The Philippines entered an Open Government Partnership in 2011 and almost six years after, it is still yet to reap the benefits of the partnership. The move towards openness and transparency is an important step in the development of government administration and management. Although the Philippines is part of the partnership, it cannot require all of the government agency to comply with the rules of the Open Data Philippines Plan. This is why I propose to have a legislation that will provide for the institutionalization of the open government data project. The said legislation will create an Open Government Commission and will institutionalize the Open Government
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Data Portal, data.gov.ph. The challenge and limitation to this is that it cannot really provide a definitive duration of how much time is needed in order for the Commission to complete the backlogs. I cannot also account for how much budget is needed in order for it to be successfully implemented. Also, the use of the open government data portal cannot be really controlled and facilitated. However, I am still confident that this proposal will work. The limitations and challenges will always be there but in time, the commission can overcome them.
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Rodrigo,
R.
2016. Operationalizing in the Executive Branch in the People's
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Constitutional Right to Information and the State Policies of Full Public Disclosure and Transparency in the Public Service and Providing Guidelines Therefor. Executive Order 02. Evans, Angela and Adriana Campos. 2012. “Open government initiatives: Challenges of Citizen Participation” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 0 (0): 1-13. Harrison, Teresa, Santiago Guerrero, G. Brian Burke, Meghan Cook, Anthony Cresswell, Natalie Helbig, Jana Hrdinova, and Therese Pardo. 2012. “Open government and e-government: Democratic challenges from a public value perspective” Information Policy 17 (2012): 8397. Lindroth, Henrik. 2016. “The Open Government Partnership in Asia and the Pacific.” The Governance Brief 25. McDermott, Patrice. 2010. “Building open government.” Government Information Quarterly 27 (2010): 401-413. Nam, Taewoo. 2012. “Citizen's attitudes toward open government and government 2.0” International Review of Administrative Sciences 78 (2): 346-368. National Archives of the Philippines Act. 2007. Statutes at Large. Office of the Presidential Spokesperson (OPS), Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management and the Undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO). 2014. Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2014-01. Philippines. Office of the Presidential Spokesperson (OPS), Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management and the Undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) Office of the Presidential Spokesperson (OPS), Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management and the Undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Development and
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Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO). 2015. Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2015-01. Philippines. Office of the Presidential Spokesperson (OPS), Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management and the Undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) Office of the Presidential Spokesperson (OPS), Department of Budget and Management and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO). 2014. Open Data Action Plan 2014-2016. Philippines: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson (OPS), Department of Budget and Management and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO). Philippine Congress. House of Representatives. 2016. House Bill 1855. 17th Cong., 1st session. Philippine Congress. Senate. 2016. Senate Bill 1208. 17th Cong., 1st session.