​Speaker Atty. Pangalian M. Balindong and all ​officials of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority;

Newly appointed Bangsamoro Parliament members;

Architect Eduard U. Guerra, and all committee vice chairs, members, and ex-officio members;

MFBM Minister, Atty. Ubaida C. Pacasem;

JICA Senior Representative Mr. Ebisawa Yo and representative Ms. Yukiko Sano;

​Dr. Romulo Emmanuel Miral Jr.;

​​Resource speakers, participants, ladies and gentlemen

Assalamu Alaikum. Warahmatullahi Wabaratu.

Three weeks ago, I was honored to attend the launch of the Public Financial Management Competency Program or PFMCP for BARMM Middle Managers in Davao.

Even in the midst of budget hearings, I made it a point to be present not only out of duty, but also because of my personal conviction to empower the Muslim community.

From Davao, we flew to New York for the Philippine Economic Briefing which resulted in lasting ties with key stakeholders that will propel the inflow of investments in the country. We then braved the back-to-back confirmation and plenary hearings just last week, when both the agency budget of the DBM and the General Appropriations Bill were approved.

And to cap off the hectic week and month, we took part in the culmination of the National Peace Consciousness Month led by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity.

In my keynote message, I cited the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as a historic win for the whole country. The mission of the Bangsamoro Government to “ensure the necessary conditions for enduring peace and sustained socio-economic development suitable to the systems of life, needs, and aspirations of its people” gives me confidence to say that at this point in our history, we have achieved peace.

I believe that the rest of the Philippines and BARMM can grow together as two governments working in support of each other towards a common goal—to provide better living conditions for every Filipino.

As a daughter of Mindanao, it is my personal dream to see a BARMM that is thriving and a Mindanao that shines as the land of promise. And collaborating with you, together with the JICA, in this PFM journey is our way of helping realize your mission to formulate and implement a dynamic fiscal policy towards the upliftment of the lives of the Bangsamoro.

The PFMCP aims to enhance the technical skills and competencies of our public financial managers on planning, directing, and controlling financial resources towards the effective and efficient delivery of public services.

We have already conducted several activities with BARMM since 2020 including an executive session for the members of the Committee on Finance, Budget, and Management; a session and course for Cabinet members and Executives of Ministries and Offices; an educational tour for the Office of the Chief Minister and the Support to Bangsamoro Transition or SUBATRA; and the recently concluded PFMCP for BARMM Middle Managers.

This time, the goal of our PFMCP is to enhance the current public financial management practices in the region while undergoing the transition.

For this session, we have a set of top-caliber subject matter experts to walk you through the PFM fundamentals relative to local revenue policies and procedures; the principles of local taxation and fiscal sustainability, budget legislation; local government fiscal management; staffing and organization; and the budget process including the Cash Budgeting System or the CBS—one of our budget reforms.

Likewise, the Budget and Treasury Management System or the BTMS, which we will fast-track together with the Department of Finance, the Bureau of the Treasury, and the Commission on Audit, is a crucial digitalization initiative.

As a web-based, fully-automated, and centralized database, the key objective of the BTMS 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 fiscal reporting system.

This complements Executive Order 170 (s. 2022)—which I advocated during my time as Assistant Governor of the BSP. EO 170 mandates the adoption of digital payments for government disbursements and collections.

Through all of these, we hope we can equip you, our PFM practitioners from the Parliament, with the knowledge and skills that will enable you to develop and implement effective laws and decisions for the Bangsamoro people.

As we all know, a sound PFM is fundamental to meeting development objectives and reducing poverty, which are the desired outcomes of both the Bangsamoro and the national government.

Speaking of reforms, we will also lead the efforts towards the issuance of an Executive Order to institutionalize the operations of the Open Government Partnership or the OGP in the Philippines.

The OGP is a multilateral organization of reformers from inside and outside the government working towards transforming public service delivery through securing concrete commitments from governments reflective of the values of access to information, public accountability, citizen participation, and leveraging on technology and innovation to strengthen governance—all of which are in line with the PFM core values of accountability, transparency, integrity, and fiscal responsibility, among others.

We hope to arm you with the knowledge and skills you will reap from this undertaking—will join us in implementing all these reforms I am positive that this session will not only equip you with the PFM fundamentals, but will also, and more importantly, strengthen your resolve to be part of a new generation of PFM practitioners:

• who are accountable to the people and each other;
• who embrace innovations through digital transformation;
• who act with integrity at all times; and
• who recognize that governments exist for and because of the people.

We need all of you in order to carry out our agenda for economic prosperity that truly ensures inclusivity—one where no Filipino would be left behind, the Bangsamoro people included.

Maraming salamat po! Inshallah, the Philippines will become a peaceful and more prosperous country for all Filipinos. Salamat po.