By Christian John Calimbas, ACTS, with input from AS-HRDD

As the DBM continues to strengthen HERstory, it shared the spotlight with the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) during the FY 2026 Budget Fora series for National Government Agencies (NGAs) and Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) held last January 28, 2025, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

A staunch advocate of women empowerment and development, DBM Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman pushed for the inclusion of gender planning and budgeting in this year’s budget preparation season. “The PCW is joining us for the first time to facilitate a planning session on Gender and Development (GAD) so we can further strengthen the Women’s Budget,” Sec. Mina proudly shared.

The DBM has dedicated a half-hour session for PCW to discuss the relevance of GAD Planning and Budgeting (GPB) in combating gender inequality in the country.

Gender-Responsive Budgeting

Highlighting the need for a gender-responsive budget, PCW shared how government instrumentalities can strengthen their gender lens through planning. “'Yong GAD Planning and Budgeting will be an integral part of our annual planning and programming because we are pursuing gender mainstreaming,” PCW Supervising GAD Specialist Karen Dagñalan-Dy emphasized.

GAD mainstreaming, as advocated by PCW, requires interventions at various stages of the development planning process, including planning, programming, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. “We want to make our planning processes participatory [and] inclusive— importante na walang naiiwan,” Dagñalan-Dy emphasized.

PCW’s discussion focused on the four essential elements of GPB—the creation and/or strengthening of the GAD Focal Point System (GFPS), capability building on GAD, conduct of a Gender Audit, and the institutionalization of a GAD Database.

Institutionalizing GAD efforts

During the Budget Forum, participants were impressed with the inclusion of the GPB discussion in the 2026 Budget Preparations. “Kudos to the DBM for integrating GAD into the 2026 Budget Forum by emphasizing the need for government agencies to incorporate gender- responsive programs in their budget proposals,” Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) Budget Officer III Leeroye John Flores shared.

“This should serve not just as a deadline reminder for GPBs but as a reaffirmation that GAD efforts must be consistently integrated into the planning and budgeting process,” he added. In a continuous effort to institutionalize GAD, the DBM will collaborate with the PCW, and other development partners for the advancement of future initiatives such as the Gender Budget Tagging System and the Gender Financing Framework.