To Zamboanga City Mayor John Dalipe; Zamboanga Sibugay Provincial Budget Officer and President of the Mindanao League of Local Budget Officers (MLLBO) Inc. Rosana Palalon; MLLBO Officers and Board of Directors;

To my colleagues from DBM who are also joining us in today’s event;

To DBM Regional Office IX Director Mark Louie C. Martin and Regional Office X Director Rudylia C. Parrel, and employees from DBM Regional Offices;

To all our local budget officers, public financial managers, and participants from Mindanao LGUs, magandang araw po sa ating lahat. Buenas tardes! I was told that there was a number of Maranaos here, sa mga kababayan ko, [Greetings in Chavacano]

As a proud daughter of this beautiful land, I am honored to deliver this keynote speech before you, my fellow Mindanaoans, especially as the theme of this event is very dear to me.

Since the beginning of my term as Secretary, the institutionalization of budget reforms and digitalization of our public financial management or PFM have always been my top priorities. In the same manner, enhancing bureaucratic efficiency and sound fiscal management is highlighted in our 8-point Socioeconomic Agenda. While these priority areas were also part of the development and governance objectives in the previous years, I am positive that with the enthusiastic leadership of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., together with your ardent support, these priorities will finally come to fruition.

Just this month, we welcomed the good news that our GDP has grown to 7.6 percent for the third quarter of 2022—a triumph worth celebrating as we recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Apart from the increase in mobility and opening of the economy due to the ease of travel restrictions, this positive economic outlook is attributed to good tax performance. We hope to sustain this growth, if not surpass it, and we believe that enhancing our digital governance will play a crucial role in achieving this.

By investing in digital infrastructure, the government can improve its revenue collection, and ultimately promote efficiency, transparency, and accountability in the use of our public funds. We want the people to know how we actually spend their hard-earned money and strengthen their trust in the process.

As a testament to our commitment to ensuring a clean and efficient bureaucracy, we have allocated some Php 12.47 billion in the 2023 Proposed National Budget for the digitalization of government services.

To accelerate the transition to digital governance, we have set aside:

• Php 4.7 billion for the ICT Systems and Infostructure Development, Management, and Advisory Program which covers:
  • Php 1.7 billion for the National Government Data Center Infrastructure;
  • Php 1.5 billion for the National Broadband Plan; and
  • Php 169 million for the National Government Portal;

• Some Php 2.6 billion for Revenue Information Systems Development and Infrastructure Support; and

• Php 1.2 billion for the Philippine Customs Modernization Project

President Marcos Jr. has also called for the swift passage of the consolidated bill on the E-Government and E-Governance Acts, which will serve as the country’s framework in digitalizing the economy and our government services. This legislation will pave the way for an integrated, interconnected, and interoperable information, resource sharing, and communications network within and among government agencies for a more efficient and transparent public service delivery.

On our end at DBM, we will fast-track the implementation of the Budget and Treasury Management System or BTMS together with the Department of Finance, and the Bureau of the Treasury, and the Commission on Audit. This is a crucial digitalization initiative to enable real-time mapping of transactions, allow accurate financial reporting and management, and enhance oversight control. Its key objective is to achieve the future state of PFM where all spending agencies would capture government transactions at source using the BTMS as the sole accounting and fiscal reporting system.

Lastly, we will ensure the smooth roll out of the recently released Implementing Rules and Regulations of Executive Order No. 170 which mandates the adoption of digital payments for government disbursements and collections in the national level as well as in the local government units. This EO also aims to facilitate the fast distribution of financial aid to beneficiaries, ultimately promoting financial inclusion—an advocacy I have been pushing for even when I was still with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

For all these to become a reality and a success, we need your unwavering support and enthusiastic participation in the local government, as good governance is and should be collaborative. I encourage our participants here today to be our frontrunners in promoting good governance and sound public financial management, not only in Mindanao, but also in the country.

Let us work together in implementing budget reforms towards the realization of our mission to ensure the equitable, prudent, transparent, and accountable use of public funds.

Asahan po ninyong kaagapay ninyo ang DBM sa pagkamit ng gobyernong malinis, tapat, at tunay na tumutugon sa pangangailangan ng bawat Pilipino.

Maraming salamat po. Assalamu alaikum!