Pursuant to the Budget Commission Circular Letter dated October 6, 1977, the Budget Commission, Regional Office C (now the Department of Budget and Management Regional Office (DBM RO) VII) was first established on October 8, 1977, at the third and fourth floors of the Cebu Liberty Lumber Bldg., M. J. Cuenco Avenue, Cebu City. It was officially opened on November 1, 1977, with Mr. Romeo Q. Solis as its founder and first Regional Director (RD).
It handled voluminous budgetary transactions/requests of the different national and local government agencies emanating from the four regions, namely: Regions VI (Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan, Antique and Guimaras), Region VII (Cebu, Negros Oriental, Siquijor and Bohol), Region VIII (Eastern Leyte, Western Leyte, Northern Leyte, Southern Leyte, Eastern Samar, Western Samar, Northern Samar, and Southern Samar, and Biliran Province) and Region X (Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon, and Camiguin).
In 1979, district offices were established at the other three regional centers (Iloilo City, Tacloban City, and Cagayan de Oro City) to promote and facilitate effective and efficient operations of the regional office located in Cebu City, which supervised them. A Budget Field Officer (now Chief Budget and Management Specialist) headed each district office. Said district offices were converted into sub-regional offices. Consequently, upon their conversion, the heads of the district offices were all promoted to Assistant Regional Directors (ARDs).
In 1987, all sub-regional offices were finally elevated into regional offices in which their heads were automatically appointed as the Officers-in-Charge of the Office of the Regional Director. With the full decentralization of the DBM operations in 1987, the DBM ROVII was empowered to act on budgetary requests, queries, and other matters of the various clientele agencies operating in Region VII.
During the said year, Director Romeo Q. Solis was transferred to DBM RO VI and was replaced by Mr. Nilo B. Buot who became the second RD of DBM RO VII. Corollary to the change in the administration, the leadership in the management of the DBM Central Office as well as the DBM ROs was likewise changed. Although there were several changes in the management of the DBM RO VII, the most significant was the reassignment/reshuffling of the RDs in 1994.
Early in 1994, Director Reynaldo A. Capangpangan, after his six-year stint in DBM RO X, Cagayan de Oro City, replaced Director Nilo B. Buot, who was transferred to DBM RO VI.
Fast forward to the year 1995-1996, the DBM RO VII was relocated from the Cebu Liberty Lumber Building to the 6th floor of the G.K. Chua Building, near the historical Fort San Pedro and Plaza Independencia in Cebu City.
In 1997, fueled by the efforts of RD Capangpangan, the Provincial Government of Cebu donated a total land area of 3,276 square meters in which the three-storey DBM RO Building was built that became the new home of DBM RO VII staff. With a floor area of 1,608 sq. m., DBM RO VII building houses the Office of the RD, the Office of the ARD, the Financial Administrative Division (FAD), three (3) Technical Divisions, a Conference Room, a Social Hall, a Dormitory and Roof Deck.
In the year 2000, RD Capangpangan transferred to PhilHealth in Region VII. ARD Carmela S. Fernan, took over as the fourth RD of DBM ROVII.
Since then, the Office has changed and evolved.
As a result of the rationalization plan implemented by Executive Order (EO) No. 366, s. 2004 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations in 2005, several employees in the FAD availed of the early retirement package in 2009. A few years after, in 2012, a few technical personnel with items marked as "Co-terminus with the Incumbent" (CTI) also went on early retirement under EO 77, s. 2012.
In 2015 DBM established its Quality Management System (QMS), becoming the first government agency to be awarded a department-wide ISO certification. The department successfully maintained its certification through the certification body’s surveillance audits in 2015 and subsequent years.
After almost 24 years of no reshuffling, the RDs were reassigned in 2018 under Department Order No. 3[1]. DBM RO VIII Director Imelda C. Laceras took over Director Fernan, who was reassigned to DBM RO X on April 1, 2018. In the same year, DBM RO VII switched from a sectoral to a hybrid geographical distribution of assignments per technical division to address succession issues. Despite navigating the management and assignment changes, as well as juggling an additional workload as the consolidator region for the FY 2019 budget preparation for State Universities and Colleges, the RO was recognized as the best Regional Office in 2018.
Director Laceras returned to DBM RO VIII in 2020, and Director Ricky L. Sanchez of DBM RO IX took over as the DBM RO VII's sixth RD. The office started using digital signatures and digital processing of transactions in the document management system (DMS) in 2020. Over time, the office encountered numerous challenges in assimilating current tasks through multitasking and the implementation of innovative strategies. Fortunately, the RO received staffing complements in 2020, namely five positions in the FAD and two in the technical divisions. The following year, the office began to digitalize the release of action documents using the Action Document Releasing System (ADRS).
On January 3, 2022, Director Sanchez transferred to DBM RO IV-B, and Ms. Lenin S. Bernales, ARD, took over as the Acting RD of DBM ROVII.
Today, the DBM RO VII which consists of highly competent and dynamic personnel with an authorized staffing complement of 34 positions (it being categorized as a medium RO), continues to serve the public by working hand in hand with other national and local government agencies to ensure the efficient and sound utilization of government resources in order to achieve the country’s development objectives.
An author[1] dated February 5, 2018 on the Reassignment of Regional Directors
