Filipinos across the world can now link up with President Benigno Aquino III and other top government officials with the launching Monday of the new website of the Office of the President of the Philippines. Using the website www.president.gov.ph, Filipinos can send their comments and complaints to any government agency, the Presidential Communications and Operations Office (PCOO) said. The PCOO said the new website updates the public on the official activities of the president and provides links to the official websites of government departments. The website's basic objective is to promote transparency in government, the PCOO said. Secretary Sonny Coloma of the Palace Communications Group said the linkages to all departments in the Executive branch could facilitate public access to the government since people will have to visit just one website to be able to connect to various government agencies. One these agencies is the Department of Finance which recently launched a new website of its own called “Pera ng Bayan” (www.perangbayan.com) that allows Filipinos to report irregularities and corruption in the business sector. The website also featured links to Aquino's Cabinet members. Clicking on their names will redirect visitors to the site of their respective departments. The site also has links to such popular social networking sites as Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, YouTube and Multiply. It also has a forum called “Panata sa Pagbabago”or Pledge to Change, where visitors can make a vow for change. The site has sections on official Malacanang photos and video clips that can be uploaded through the video-sharing site YouTube. A section of the Malacanang website home page titled “Tito Noy” invites the public, even children to become active nation-builders. “In calling on the people to be part of change, P-Noy invites everyone including the youngest among us to become active nation builders. The page of Tito Noy aims to help bring back the traditional Filipino values like saying ‘po' and ‘opo,'” the text on the page read. “P-Noy wants to involve our children, the future leaders of our country, by engaging them to be builders of the greatness of our culture,” it added. The home page of the website features famous quotations of the president like: “Kayo ang boss ko (You are my boss),” “Iba na tayo ngayon, bagong Pilipinas (We have changed; new Philippines),” “Piliin natin ang daang matuwid (Let's choose the righteous path).” The new Malacanang website was launched more than a month after Aquino assumed office last June 30.
