Thank you… It is an opportune time for me to also thank [former DBM Undersecretary for Budget Preparation and Execution Group] Usec. Luz Cantor. Galing po ako sa legislative department ng gobyerno. I served po under the office of the late Senator Edgardo J. Angara for 12 years. And then, I was also lucky enough to work for a short time with Senator Loren Legarda when she was Chairman of Finance Committee in the Senate. ‘Yun po ‘yung time na nakatrabaho ko rin po si Secretary [Benjamin] Diokno, private citizen po siya ‘non. And then, naging Secretary...

I am a young student. I call myself a student during that time because when I entered DBM po, I know the budget process a bit because si Senator Angara po ay naging Chairman ng Committee on Finance. Si Senator Legarda rin po.

But, iba po sa Executive. Iba po ang work sa executive. Sila po, sina Usec. Cantor at ‘yung iba pong senior officials ng DBM, sila po actually ang nagturo sa akin on how to go about budgeting, procurement, and auditing, pati sa Human Resource na rin po, so salamat po. Kung hindi po dahil sa kanila, siguro po hindi po tayo magiging Secretary at hindi po ako naririto sa harap ninyo at nagsasalita. Maraming salamat, Ma’am.

Of course, sa atin pong masigasig at napakaguwapong Mayor, Mayor Benjie Magalong, sa ating napakataas ang energy na Presidente ng PAGBA—hanggang Sabado po siguro masaya ang inyong workshop dahil masaya po ang ating presidente—si Ma’am Zenaida po, magandang umaga po. Sa lahat ng officers ng PAGBA and members; my colleagues from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM); and my fellow civil servants and public fiscal practitioners from national government agencies, GOCCs, state colleges and universities, and local government units nationwide, good day.

Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

First, I would like to congratulate PAGBA for the success of this event. I am delighted that you have invited the best and the brightest from the Department to serve as your resource persons. I am confident that Acting Assistant Secretary Mary Ann Dela Vega, Director Gerald Janda, Director Ma. Cecilia Narido, and Executive Director Dennis Santiago will impart useful information to our dear participants.

Allow me to also greet you a happy 58th anniversary, as well, as I was informed that it was this April. Interestingly, we also celebrated our 87th founding anniversary yesterday. As such, I wish you the best as you continue bringing about significant changes in budget administration in the years to come.

I would also like to commend you for choosing to discuss today not just the challenges in implementing innovations and technologies to Public Financial Management or PFM, but more importantly, the ways to respond to these challenges.

As government budget administrators, it is important that we do not just dwell on the problems we face, rather, we must focus on being proactive in crafting solutions. As shared by Steven Covey, the author of the popular book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” the first and most fundamental habit of an effective person is to be proactive. This entails awareness of the areas where we spend our energies, and acknowledgment that we are “response-able.” I believe the same could and should be applied in government processes, including citizen participation in public budgeting.

Being proactive is crucial in “Responding to the Continuing Challenges of Innovations and Technology to Public Financial Management.” As such, it is incumbent upon us to build our capacities for proactive governance as we tread an increasingly competitive, volatile, and innovation-driven world.

Proactive governance is best embodied in the country’s Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023 to 2028, anchored on the Administration’s 8-point Socioeconomic Agenda. The PDP considered the lessons learned from the pandemic—built on tried and tested strategies—and recognized emerging global and regional trends to reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction.

In line with the PDP and the 8-point Socioeconomic Agenda, we embraced proactive governance in the 2023 National Budget. Amounting to Php 5.268 trillion, it prioritizes digital transformation and e-governance. The end-goal is to improve awareness, responsiveness, and performance while fighting corruption and deepening stakeholder participation and transparency in our systems and processes.

To implement these e-governance innovations, we have allocated a total of Php 24.13 billion for ICT-related expenditures this year.At the local level, a portion of the Php 7.24 billion financial assistance for Local Government Units (LGUs) can also be used for local ICT systems and infrastructure development.

As for updates on the initiatives of the Department, my colleagues will discuss them with you in detail but please allow me to share a few of them.

In anticipation of the challenges that our partners in the local governments will face in the implementation of the government’s budget and digitalization initiatives, the DBM has been continuously providing Competency Program classes which capacitate PFM practitioners across different regions, including the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The Department is also gearing up for the launch of its Digital Transformation Roadmap which aims to promote data governance and digitalization in fiscal-related government processes. This roadmap has a dual transformation feature which will future-proof the entire bureaucracy by institutionalizing all the digital reforms spearheaded by the DBM.

We believe that proactivity fosters progress and innovation; thus, we have been proactively lobbying and working with Congress toward the enactment of the Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized Governance or the PBBM Governance Bill, which will modernize our budgeting system; resolve the fragmented PFM legal framework; secure institutionalization of key PFM reforms such as the Treasury Single Account, Accounting and Auditing Reforms, and the Integrated Financial Management Information System; strengthen the implementation of the Cash Budgeting System; and promote public participation in the budget process once enacted.

As I have noted, these are only a few of the initiatives that we have in the Department and rest assured that we are continuously working for the betterment of our PFM system.

So, we hope that you will join us in these undertakings. To all our PFM practitioners, thank you for your commitment and dedication to serve the people. Let us proactively work toward the achievement of our Agenda for Prosperity—one that is truly inclusive and sustainable for all generations and the next. Remember, a country with proactive citizens is a country on its way to progress.

Maraming salamat po. Mabuhay ang PAGBA at ang ating PFM practitioners. Wabillahi Tawfiq Wal Hidaya, Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.