Opening the local: full disclosure policy and its impact on local governments in the Philippines

In 2011, the Philippine government required local government units (LGUs) to post financial and procurement--related information in LGU websites. This research investigates whether this initiative has affected both the providers of the information and its supposed audience -- the public, as represented by citizen groups. To answer the questions, the researchers made use of a case study approach by selecting three provinces as research sites which yielded two major findings. On the supply side, incentivising openness is a critical aspect in ensuring that local governments have the interest to disclose financial data. However, on the demand side, there is limited awareness on the part of the public, and more particularly the intermediaries (e.g. business groups, civil society organizations, research institutions), on the availability of data, and thus, its limited use. This paper argues that openness is not just about governments putting meaningful government data out into the public domain, but also about making the public meaningfully engage with governments. This requires policies that will require observance of open government data standards and a capacity building process of ensuring that the public, to whom the data is intended, are aware and able to use the data in ensuring more transparent and accountable governance.