Joint Memorandum Circular 2015-01 (Open Data Philippines)

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
JOINT MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 2015-01

18 May 2015

TO:	All Heads of Departments, Bureaus, Offices, and other Agencies of the National Government, including State Universities and Colleges, and Government-Owned and/or —Controlled Corporations and Government Financial Institutions, Congress of the Philippines, the Judiciary, Constitutional Commissions, the Office of the Ombudsman, and Local Government Units
SUBJECT:	Guidelines for the Implementation of the Open Government Data General Provision in the 2015 General Appropriations Act

PURPOSE

1.0

This Joint Memorandum Circular serves as the guidelines issued by the Open Data Philippines Task Force in compliance with Section 24 of Republic Act No. 10651, otherwise known as the 2015 General Appropriations Act (GAA). This general provision reads as follows:

Sec. 24. Open Government Data. Departments, bureaus, and offices of the National Government, including Constitutional Offices enjoying fiscal autonomy, SUCs, and GOCCs shall adopt a policy of openness for all datasets created, collected, processed, disseminated, or disposed through the use of public funds to the extent permitted by applicable laws and subject to individual privacy, confidentiality, national security, or other legally-mandated restrictions. Openness means that datasets published by agencies shall be machine-readable, in open formats, and released with open licenses.

Implementation of this section shall be subject to guidelines to be issued by the Open Data Philippines Task Force comprised of the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson, DBM, and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office.

BACKGROUND

2.0

In January 2014, the Government of the Philippines launched Open Data Philippines (ODP), the program to make government data more accessible to the public by supplying data in open and machine-readable formats, and stimulating public demand. The program is anchored on data.gov.ph, a public domain website which serves as the central repository for all government datasets. The program is managed by the ODP Task Force comprised of the OPS, DBM, and PCDSPO.

3.0

For its policy instrument to support the program, the OPS-DBM-PCDSPO JMC 2014- 01 was issued in 22 January 2014. This Joint Memorandum Circular 2015-01 is hereby issued to supplement said JMC and to provide guidelines in the implementation of Section 26 in the General Provisions of Republic Act No. 10651 or the FY 2015 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

COVERAGE

4.0

This JMC covers all Departments, Bureaus, Offices and Agencies of the National Government, State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), Government-Owned and/or — Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) and Government Financial Institutions (GFIs).

The Congress, Judiciary, Constitutional Commissions, Office of the Ombudsman, and Local Government Units are encouraged to participate in this program.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

5.0	Open Data Philippines as a program and the policy of openness are driven by the following general principles:

	5.1	Access to public sector information. ODP is one of the core government programs in guaranteeing the constitutional right of the people to information on matters of public concern. The open data portal, data.gov.ph, is intended to be the primary platform by which government data is published.
	5.2	Data-driven governance. The program seeks to drive government decisionmaking based on available and sound data. Equally important, the program recognizes that government does not have a monopoly of good governance, as a citizenry empowered with open government data can help improve government's service delivery.
	5.3	Public engagement. The program adheres to the idea that opening government data goes beyond providing the supply of data, that it needs the public's participation to move it forward. Hence, the program establishes linkages outside of government, especially with civil society organizations (CS05), the private sector, academe, and other stakeholders.
	5.4	Practical innovation. The program aspires to create opportunities for innovation that tremendously benefit both government and the public. The program recognizes that open government data goes beyond the fundamental purpose of transparency, but also aims to improve the delivery of public services, translate into economic or commercial opportunities, and find relevance in the everyday lives of citizens.

OPEN DATA POLICY

6.0	The policy of openness for government datasets shall apply to "...all datasets created, collected, processed, disseminated, or disposed through the use of public funds to the extent permitted by applicable laws and subject to individual privacy, confidentiality, national security, or other legally-mandated restrictions."
7.0	Openness of government datasets means that, "...datasets published by agencies shall be machine-readable, in open formats, and released with open licenses." For any particular dataset to be deemed in compliance with this qualification of openness, the following must be present:

	7.1	Publicly available and accessible by default. If the dataset qualifies for publication to the extent permitted by applicable laws and subject to individual privacy, confidentiality, national security, or other legally-mandated restrictions, it should be made available through the agency's website by default and obtainable by download.
	7.2	Open and machine-readable format. This means that the dataset is in a format that is platform-independent, machine-readable, and made available to the public without restrictions that would impede the re-use, modification, or processing of that information. Datasets in machine-readable formats are ones which are able to have its data extracted and processed by computer programs easily.
	7.3	Open license. This means that the dataset is offered free and without restriction subject only to proper attribution to the publishing government agency. Should an agency adopt a particular license for any of its datasets, it should be an open license.

	Further guidance on these qualities are provided in Annex A and B.
8.0	In order for a dataset to be truly open, the following qualities must also be observed:

	8.1	Timely. Each dataset shall be updated to ensure its quality and to preserve its value. It is recommended that a dataset be updated at least once every quarter of the year, or whenever possible and permissible.
	8.2	Described. Each dataset shall have a corresponding metadata that provides contextual information such as title, description, date published, etc.
	8.3	Managed post-release. The agency, through a point of contact ' , shall entertain feedback and engagement from users of any of its datasets.

9.0	In addition to the above, the following requirements must also be complied with as part of the execution of the ODP and in consistency with the General Principles articulated in paragraph 7.0 of this JMC.

	9.1	Agency Data Inventories (ADI). This refers to the comprehensive listing of all government data that an agency currently holds. This is an aggregate list of all datasets, which contains the title, description and file type of a dataset. Each agency, as part of its initial engagement with the Open Data program, should submit an inventory of the datasets, whether publicly available or not, to the Task Force as stated in the first Open Data Philippines JMC. A sample of the Agency Data Inventory can be found in Annex C.
	9.2	Metadata. This refers to contextual data or information about a piece of dataset or information. This contains details such as title, description, frequency of update, date last updated, file format, file size, geographical coverage, and other details that describe a particular dataset or piece of information. Each dataset shall have corresponding metadata. Agencies that have not yet adopted any metadata standard shall adopt the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) schema 2 unless particular datasets require another standard. However, metadata of datasets published through data.gov.ph shall use the JSON schema. 1. One of the fields in the JSON schema is contact information of the agency publishing the dataset. 2. A copy of the JSON schema is attached herewith. The corresponding metadata for each dataset shall likewise be made publicly accessible. A sample of the Metadata template can be found in Annex D.

TRANSITION TO AN OPEN DATA REGIME

10.0	Compliance with the GAA Open Government Data provision and this JMC shall be observed according to the timelines enumerated below.

	10.1	All datasets generated from 1 January 2015 onwards shall be submitted and published in open formats to the ODP Task Force by 31 July 2015.
	10.2	Datasets generated from 1 January 2014 onwards shall comply with the said requirements by 31 December 2015.

11.0	Should agencies need help in opening up their data, they may engage the ODP Task Force, which can provide capacity-building activities such as data skills trainings.

ON OPEN DATA LICENSING

12.0	In the interim, the Open Data Philippines Task Force has adopted a Data Policy Statement that will govern the use of open government data. The Task Force is reviewing the adoption of Creative Commons licenses such as those adopted by the open government data programs of Australia and France.
13.0	By default, Government Data published on data.gov.ph [a public domain website] shall be made available free and without restriction, unless specified under a different open license as indicated in the metadata. Refer to Annex E for the full Data Policy Statement, as published in the data.gov.ph portal.

REQUIRED ACTIONS

14.0	In compliance with the Open Government Data provision in the 2015 GAA, all agencies covered in this JMC shall observe the requirements stated in paragraphs 6.0 — 11.0.
15.0	As stated in JMC 2014-01, each agency's designated Open Data Champion or any personnel designated by the said Champion shall publish its datasets, through data.gov.ph, in addition to their respective agency websites,.

	15.1	An Agency Open Data Champion shall be designated by the Head of Agency to be the primary liaison between the Agency and the Task Force. He/she is recommended to be the agency's Chief Information Officer or head of its data, statistics, and/or research unit and should have the capacity and the competency to make pertinent executive decisions on behalf of the agency with regard to this initiative.
	15.2	For agencies that have previously been engaging the Task Force in the publication of its datasets through data.gov.ph, these agencies shall continue to work through the same personnel or channels.
	15.3	For agencies that have neither been engaged by the Task Force nor published any dataset through data.gov.ph, they must contact the Open Data Philippines Project Management Office at the Department of Budget and Management through any of the following contact details: open@data.gov.ph, (02) 735-4947.

16.0	For agencies that have not fully observed with the requirements in the previous JMC, please provide the name and contact details of the agency Open Data Champion and Agency Data Inventory (see attached template) to open@data.gov.ph.
17.0	For agencies that are interested in implementing advanced open data practices, refer to Annex F for guidance. For agencies that are interested in implementing a department-wide open data policy, refer to Annex G for a sample department order.

FUND SOURCE

18.0	Funding for individual agency implementation of this JMC shall be sourced from their respective agency budgets. Funding for the ODP shall be sourced from the budgets of the OPS, DBM, and PCDSPO in the 2015 General Appropriations Act.

SEPARABILITY CLAUSE

19.0	If any clause, sentence, or provision of this Circular shall be invalid or unconstitutional, its remaining parts shall not be affected thereby.

REPEALING CLAUSE

20.0	All orders, rules, and regulations inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this Circular are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

EFFECTIVITY

21.0	This Circular shall take effect immediately.

(sgd)
EDWIN LACIERDA
Presidential Spokesperson

(sgd)
FLORENCIO B. ABAD
Secretary
Department of Budget and Management

(sgd)
MANUEL L. QUEZON III
Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary
Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office

Download the Joint Memorandum Circular 2015-01 (Open Data Philippines) [PDF]