Open Data Asia 2020

BACKGROUND

The Philippines has a vibrant civil society that engages regularly with government. This partly stems from the government’s efforts to harness ‘people power’ after the 1986 EDSA revolution and bolstered by the revised 1987 constitution of the Philippines, officially paving way to make citizens partners in governance.

However, despite this enabling environment, civil society’s ability to engage effectively has been limited by gaps in access to information and knowledge about the government and its activities. The administration under President Benigno Aquino III has adopted a “Daang Matuwid” – or “straight path” – mantra, centered on anti-corruption and public confidence restoration efforts and resulting in a number of transparency and accountability initiatives.

This project engages civil society on new tools to interrogate, audit, and participate in local governance using open data. The Center for Local and Regional Governance is doing this by evaluating the way civil society organisations gather information and optimise it for participation in ‘follow the money’ initiatives. This enables these groups to become more actively involved in the planning, budgeting, and monitoring of public funds. Lastly, the research looks to answer if this new model of engagement using open data could contribute to the breaking down of barriers between organisations working in silos, to connect their initiatives for more transparent governance.

PARTNERS