DICT partners with BetterGov.PH for gov.ph website

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and BetterGov.PH's partnership to build the Philippines' official gov.ph web portal introduces an open-source development model. This approach means the portal's underlying code will be made publicly available for inspection and potential contributions, a reported departure from other initiatives managed by private entities. The source code is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Adopting an open-source concept for a national digital platform can foster greater transparency and potentially enhance public trust by allowing external scrutiny of the system's architecture and security. Public inspection provides an opportunity for a broader community to identify and report potential vulnerabilities or bugs, complementing the work of the core development team. The provision for public participation also suggests a collaborative environment that could lead to more robust feature development and quicker issue resolution.

Alongside the portal development, BetterGov.PH launched a three-month Fellowship Program. This initiative aims to engage fellows in addressing specific challenges identified by government bodies such as the Ombudsman, Department of Energy, and Department of Health. The program has reportedly secured PHP 450,000 in volunteer funding and grants from Mozilla, indicating external support for capacity building within the digital governance space.