A pleasant day to the Director General of the Anti-Red Tape Authority, Secretary Ernesto Perez, as well as to our fellow officials and public servants from the government, embassies, and other partner agencies.
Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) for its unceasing commitment, since its inception in 2018, to improve the efficiency and quality of our work in the government. The work you have been doing enables the bureaucracy to overcome future challenges, and to realize our goal for efficient delivery of quality public service that every Filipino desires and deserves.
The DBM is one with ARTA and your vision of “a Philippine Government that is clean, just, highly efficient, technology-enabled and people-centered which enables a high-trust society with a globally competitive service and business environment.” So allow me to share our efforts to enhance our processes and embody bureaucratic efficiency and fiscal transparency with the aid of digital technology.
First, we are reinforcing the Philippine Open Government Partnership or the PH-OGP which provides an avenue for genuine citizen participation in government processes. We are set to institutionalize it through an Executive Order that will ensure a whole-of-government approach to establishing collaboration between government and non-government actors.
Moreover, we will continue the timely and online publication of key budget documents, which include the People’s Budget series, to support informed public debate on the national budget. This will also help us maintain our lead in Southeast Asia in terms of fiscal transparency and public participation as determined through the bi-annual Open Budget Survey conducted by the International Budget Partnership.
We are also championing the passage of the Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized Bill or the PBBM Governance Bill. Among its key provisions are the implementation of participatory budget mechanisms to ensure meaningful citizen engagement, as well as the establishment of an Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS).
An integral part of the IFMIS is the Budget and Treasury Management System (BTMS), a key digitalization measure that will enable real-time mapping of transactions from purchase to payment, facilitate the generation of vital information on government financial transactions, and enhance data governance and oversight control.
On top of all these, we are gearing up for the launch of the DBM Digital Transformation Roadmap, which aims to facilitate faster release of data needed for government transactions, reduce government expenses for manual transactions, promote fiscal transparency, and most of all, prevent red tape.
These are just some of our efforts contributing to the realization of ARTA’s mission to “transform the way the Government serves and enables its Citizens and Stakeholders through good regulatory practices, streamlining and re-engineering of processes, collaboration, and application of technology.”
We acknowledge that the road ahead is paved with challenges and gaps; however, we bank on our strong partnerships and our synchronous goal to lead and serve the people with utmost dedication, integrity, and accountability. Together, let us make our vision of a clean, efficient, and conscientious government a reality.
Congratulations, ARTA, on your 5th Anniversary and for your success in building the foundations for good governance.
Mabuhay kayo at ang bawat Pilipino!
Wabillahi Tawfiq Wal Hidaya, Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.
