Online soon: Single public website for Phl gov't data

MANILA, Philippines - Starting tomorrow, ordinary citizens will be able to access state transactions through Open Data Philippines, a website that will contain data from all government offices.

In his speech at the Good Governance Summit 2014, Presidet Benigno Aquino III said Open Data Philippines is a website for publicly available, up-to-date national data - from public school enrollment statistics to budget and procurement figures.

"As the project progresses, we can only expect the wealth and depth of data available online to grow, with information on anything and everything we can think of," Aquino said.

The Department of Budget and Management said Open Data Philippines will be the single and comprehensive portal for government data, with more than 400 data sets spanning all departments and agencies made accessible to the public through data.gov.ph.

Aquino added that the website won't solely be a repository of data as the technologically savvy Filipinos can also make use of the available information to participate and create their own visualizations and applications for the use of others.

"Opening data is about making statistics understandable, through the use of reader-friendly visualizations," Aquino said. "Ultimately, opening data is more than just making columns and rows of figures available for viewing; it is about empowering the people through information."

The President said among those already included in the website are applications that can help Metro Manila residents plan their daily commutes and those that seek to make government expenditures more accessible.

The President said the government itself can also make use of the website's data, which include those gathered through the Cashless Purchase Cards, another new anti-corruption program.

Read: Goodbye kickbacks? Phl to use 'cashless cards' in gov't transactions

"Open Data is a step towards having all information at our fingertips—which we can use to better assess, improve, and even develop programs and policies," Aquino said.

Malacañang said the Open Data Philippines promotes participative governance and public engagement as it tries to answer the questions of the citizens.

"With hundreds of data sets now accessible to anyone with an internet connection, the public can now take a better look at government data and subject them to closer scrutiny. Are government agencies fulfilling their targets? Are we spending public funds properly so that basic services are promptly and efficiently delivered?" Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.