Dept of Finance launches crowdsourcing website

UPDATED - 1:30PM, 07Aug2010 The Department of Finance (DOF) today officially launched a multi-platform crowdsourcing initiative to help gather reports and feedback from the public on the spending habits of public officials. Although presences on Facebook and Twitter were soft-launched simultaneously last July 24, it was only today that the main crowdsourcing site was officially launched: www.PeraNgBayan.com.
'Feedback mechanism' "The Pera ng Bayan website provides a feedback mechanism from the citizens to the Department of Finance and its attached agencies utilizing relevant social network tools. The citizens should be able to report exemplary performance of civil servants under the department as well as send information relevant to graft, improper action, negligence, lavish lifestyle and other illegal practices of the same," notes the website's "About" page. The project, held in cooperation with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC), was hinted at by Finance Sec. Cesar Purisima in a press briefing last July 15. Methods for submitting reports Featured prominently on the home page of PeraNgBayan.com is an interactive graphic of a child looking up at a blackboard with the words, "Anong report mo? Pasado o Reklamo". Clicking on the graphic enables a visitor to the site to post an anonymous report, with the option to attach a supporting file, such as a photo, video, or document. The reports are not available to the public, but the site features a running counter to indicate the number of reports received. As of 1:30pm on August 7, 2010, the counter showed that 257 reports had already been filed thus far. The DOF has also encouraged the public to send in reports via its linked Facebook and Twitter accounts. Plans of action On the DOF's Facebook page, the agency noted that it is "extremely happy with the public's response and feedback" but simply said that it is "now processing the submissions." "Reports received will be compiled and sent to the corresponding Agency head. (For example,) tax reports will be sent to the BIR Commissioner. Then we will follow up and ensure (that) reports are looked into and, if valid, that the necessary actions are taken. The status of each report will be available online so that people will be aware of the progress of the reports," PeraNgBayan.com told GMANews.TV via its Twitter account. The DOF's crowdsourcing initiative follows on the heels of President Benigno Aquino III's earlier commitment to use social media as "feedback mechanisms" to help address corruption in government. In his State of the Nation Address, Aquino cited corruption in government as a major factor in the country's P196.7 billion budget deficit. - GMANews.TV