Open Research
Sources & Methodology
OpenPinas compiles public records and news so readers can see who holds power in the Philippines. This page states what we track, where each dataset comes from, how sources are chosen, and what is still unsourced.
What we track and why
The project follows political families, the events around them, and a few adjacent networks (business, schools, regional counts, corruption cases). The aim is to make power visible without editorializing.
Dynasty definition. OpenPinas does not publish its own formal codebook. In practice a “dynasty” here is a political family with more than one member in, or recently in, elected or high appointive office, grouped under one node in philippine-political-dynasties-network-2025.json.
We cite two research definitions and do not re-implement them. PCIJ treats a politician as dynastic when a relative up to the third degree also holds or seeks office. PCIJ, 8 December 2024. Ateneo Policy Center tracks clans as elected officials who have family members in office before or during their term, usually by shared family name within a province. Rappler on Ateneo / Mendoza et al. (2019).
Classification. Each node has an internal label: imperial (8), dominant (1), major (48), established (9), rising (2), minor (2), or new (1). The map colors those labels. OpenPinas has not published a rule for promoting a family from major to imperial.
Power level. Nodes are tagged national (9), regional (60), national_economic (1), or regional_expanding (1). This is a coarse geographic reach tag, not a formal index such as Ateneo’s DYNSHA / DYNLAR / DYNHERF measures, which the file only defines.
Where each dataset comes from
Last-updated dates are taken from each file’s metadata when present. Gaps are what the files themselves show, not estimates.
| File | Sources | Last updated | Known gaps |
|---|---|---|---|
philippine-political-dynasties-network-2025.json | PCIJ for the December 2024 governors count; Ateneo Policy Center / Mendoza et al. (2019) for House and mayor shares. Node-level records have no citations. PCIJ, Dec 2024 Rappler on Ateneo 2019 | 2026-01-01 | 71 dynasties and 148 key members, not a census of all political families. Geographic labels cover 63 areas (provinces and cities), not all 82 provinces. Classification and power_level are internal labels without a published codebook. |
philippines-2026-timeline.json | Per-event local and international news URLs, mostly Philippine outlets. | 2026-10-19 | Coverage is a curated weekly scan of major events, not every story published in the Philippines. |
weekly-reviews/data/*.json | Each article lists its news links, drawn from the same outlet tiers as the timeline. | 2026-10-19 | Some older weekly pages may not match the current archive exactly. |
business-connections-2025.json | None recorded. | 2026-01-03 | Provenance is unknown. File notes say ownership structures still need SEC verification. Several sections are placeholders. |
elite-schools-influence-2025.json | None recorded. | unspecified | Labeled as placeholder data for layout and narrative testing. Scores and stories are not sourced. |
regional-data.json | None recorded. | unspecified | 45 geographic entries (including Metro Manila and overlapping Cotabato / North Cotabato labels). Counts have no citations and appear to summarize dynasty-network coverage rather than an independent survey. |
pogo-corruption-cases-2025.json | Per-case news and agency URLs (Rappler, Inquirer, Philstar, GMA, AP, and others). | 2026-02-21 | Four cases only. Many timeline rows inside those cases have empty sources arrays. |
philippine-startup-ecosystem-2025.json | Some startups cite Wikipedia or other URLs; many sources arrays are empty. | 2026-01-16 | This dataset is still being collected. Ecosystem ranking figures are not tied to a named index. |
data/php-usd-weekly-2025.json | BSP peso-dollar daily reference rate. BSP peso-dollar xlsx | 2025-11-24 (last week in file) | Weekly high/low aggregates. No 2026 series in this file. |
data/airport-passenger-summary.json | MCIAA passenger, cargo, and movement charts for CEB; CAAP Airpasscar Annual 2024 for Davao. MCIAA Statistics CAAP Airpasscar 2024 | CEB through 2025-10; Davao is 2024 annual | No public monthly NAIA/MIAA series found. Davao has no 2025 monthly series. |
How we choose sources
Timeline and weekly-review updates use a fixed set of news tiers. Major events need at least two sources, at least one Philippine outlet, working URLs, and neutral wording.
Tier 1 — primary Philippine sources
- Rappler — Politics, investigations
- Philippine Daily Inquirer — General news
- Manila Bulletin — General news
- Philippine Star — General news
- GMA Network — Broadcast news
- ABS-CBN News — Broadcast news
- Bilyonaryo — Business, politics
Tier 2 — investigative / analysis
- Vera Files — Fact-checking
- CMFR — Media freedom
Tier 3 — international coverage
- AP News (Philippines) — International perspective
- Reuters — International perspective
- South China Morning Post — Regional coverage
- Time — Major events
- The Guardian — International perspective
Tier 4 — Tagalog sources
- Balita (MB Tagalog) — Tagalog news
- Diskurso — Commentary
- Minimum 2 sources for major events
- At least 1 primary Philippine source
- International source preferred when the event has global significance
- Working URLs only (verify before including)
- Stick to verifiable facts; avoid editorializing; label analysis as analysis
Which outlets we cite
Counts come from the published JSON files (2026 timeline, 2025 timeline, weekly reviews, dynasty network, and the other datasets in the table above). They are regenerated whenever the site is updated.
- GMA332
- Philstar288
- Rappler246
- Inquirer166
- Wikipedia153
- PNA100
- Manila Bulletin71
- ABS-CBN68
- AP39
- Tribune36
- Manila Times34
- BusinessWorld26
- Bilyonaryo25
- Al Jazeera23
- PIA23
- Other425
last_updated: 2026-10-24. Each URL occurrence is counted; a repeated citation counts every time. Top 15 outlets are shown; remaining domains are grouped as Other.Headline numbers
Homepage, README, and power_metrics.national_statistics_2025 figures.
At least 71 of 82 provincial governments (87%), as of Dec 2024 (PCIJ)
PCIJ count from December 2024; it predates the May 2025 election. PCIJ, 8 December 2024
67% of House seats dynastic; 53% of mayors; rise since 2004 (governors 57%→80%, House 48%→67%, mayors 40%→53%)
2019 fat-dynasty shares, not 2025 election results. Rappler on Ateneo / Mendoza et al. (2019)
2025 midterm turnout 82.20%
Comelec’s official turnout is 82.20%; the article’s raw counts divide to 82.31%. Inquirer, 16 May 2025
71 dynasties tracked
Counted from the published dynasty file (71 nodes). The homepage still says “50+”.
450+ members tracked
Unsourced, under review. The published file has 148 key members.
80% of provincial board seats dynastic
Unsourced, under review. Ateneo’s 2019 series puts fat-dynasty board members near 45%. Rappler on Ateneo / Mendoza et al. (2019)
12.5% senatorial dynastic relatives
Unsourced, under review.
4.5% unopposed dynastic candidates (800 of 18,000 positions)
Unsourced, under review.
2025 midterm dynasty wins and notable Senate wins/losses listed in power_metrics
Unsourced, under review.
Known limits
- The dynasty network covers 63 named areas across the Philippines' 82 provinces plus NCR.
regional-data.jsonhas 45 entries. business-connections-2025.json,elite-schools-influence-2025.json, andregional-data.jsoncite no sources. Elite schools is labeled placeholder data.- Homepage/README “450+ members” and “50+ dynasties” do not match the file (148 members, 71 dynasties).
- Several
national_statistics_2025fields are 2019 Ateneo figures or are unsourced. See Headline numbers. - Node-level dynasty members, relationships, and geographic control have no source URLs.
Corrections
If a figure is wrong or a source is missing, open a data-update issue: Report a data correction on GitHub.
License
JSON research data is CC BY 4.0, per LICENSE-DATA. Code is MIT.
Related projects
Work we consult or that covers the same ground. These are related projects, not claims that OpenPinas copied a dataset unless Headline numbers say so.
Dynasty tracking
Academic and civic datasets that map political families. PCIJ’s 2024 governors count is cited under Headline numbers.
Corruption monitoring
Government and watchdog platforms tracking infrastructure projects and corruption cases.
- DPWH Transparency Portal
- Ombudsman Integrity Management Program handbook (PDF)
- Sumbong sa Pangulo
- OVOVTEC - One Village, One Volunteer — youth-led documentation of public construction projects
Context and analysis
Academic and policy research that informs the framing of OpenPinas.