Maayong adlaw sa tanan! (Good day to everyone!)

Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

First, allow me to express my sincerest gratitude to everyone who made this purposeful campaign successful through your invaluable support—the Local Government of Iloilo, represented by Provincial Administrator Dr. Raul N. Banias; our very own DBM-Region VI, Region VII, and Region VIII, together with our partner agencies, most especially the Department of the Interior and Local Government - Support to Local Governance Program Office and the Philippine Information Agency; our partners from the Civil Society Organizations; our fellow public servants, and of course, our dear participants.

Truly, this gathering is an embodiment of the essence of open government—ang pagkakaisa ng mga mamamayan upang makilahok tungo sa bukás at mabuting pamamahalang bayan.

Alam po ba ninyo na ang Pilipinas ay isa sa walong bansang nagtatag o founding member ng Open Government Partnership o OGP? At makalipas ang labindalawang taon mula nang sinimulan natin ang OGP, patuloy pa rin ang ating pagsusumikap sa pagsulong ng open government o gobyernong walang tinatago.

And we are fortunate that after a couple of decades po since we became a founding member, we are now, under this Administration—dahil po sa ating mahal na Pangulong Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.—na-institutionalize po ang Open Government Partnership sa pamamagitan ng pag-issue ng Executive Order No. 31 noong June 2023. Nagpapasalamat po tayo sa ating Pangulo na kanya rin pong niyakap ang adbokasiya ng Open Government Partnership.

Dati po kasi, ‘yung OGP, Executive Departments lang po ang miyembro niyan with our civil society. But now po, with the Executive Order, nasama na rin po ang judiciary. So meaning, all branches of government, despite being independent of each other, ay nagsama-sama po lahat para po sa Open Government Partnership.

We are now working closely to synchronize and complement our open government initiatives. We will also integrate open government vertically, and bring PH-OGP to the local level through OGPinas. So gusto rin po sana namin na hindi lamang po sa National Level ng gobyerno maisulong ang advocacy po natin ng Open Government. Gusto rin po nating isama ang ating mga kasama sa local government kaya po nandidito tayo ngayon. We launched this last week sa National Capital Region, today po sa Visayas, and eventually pupunta rin po sa Mindanao at saka sa Baguio.

May kwento po ako. We recently attended the 2023 OGP Global Summit. We went to Tallinn, Estonia. Kaya po doon ginawa ‘yun, because one of the pillars po of open government is the use of digitalization. Natutunan po namin doon na ang Tallinn, Estonia po, 99 percent po ng government transactions ay digitalized. I think ang hindi na lang po digitalized doon ay ‘pag may ikakasal. Syempre, parang mahirap naman pong ikasal na nasa Zoom tayo. ‘Yun lang po yata ang hindi digitalized. Otherwise, lahat po. ‘Pag nag-file ka po ng iyong taxes, whether private sector or individual po, in five minutes, tapos na po ‘yung pagfafile natin ng ating taxes. Maganda po iyon to benchmark because this Administration is really pushing forward through digitalization. 

Bakit po digitalization? Kasi po sa digitalization, there is accountability. Transparent po iyan. Makikita po natin lahat ng transactions. Kung sino po ang may GCash dito, parang ganoon po. Papasok ‘yung pera ninyo, tapos ‘pag lumabas, alam n’yo kung saan dinala, alam n’yo ‘yung balanse, kung kanino napunta. May safeguards din, may mga OTP, para hindi tayo ma-cyberhack. Uso po ngayon ang cyberhack.

The National Government is investing huge amount of money for our digitalization efforts sa buong burukrasya po. Hindi lamang po sa amin sa DBM but in the entire National Government—sa lahat po ng departments. In fact, nag-increase po ang budget natin diyan ng mga around 30 percent from this year’s budget. Sana po ang ating mga Local Government Units will also embrace our digitalization para po mas mapabilis ‘yung ating services sa ating mga mamamayan—sa ating mga pinagsisilbihan po. 

Naka-meeting ko rin po doon [in Estonia] ‘yung head ng OGP, si CEO Sanjay Pradhan. Sa meeting pong iyon, pinuri niya po ang Pilipinas dahil sa tingin po niya, ang open government ay nasa DNA daw po natin yan. Kumbaga likas po ang open government sa atin. Ano po kasi mismo ‘yung Open Government? I think, ito po ‘yung mayroong line of communication. ‘Di ba importante sa national government po at sa ating sinisilbihan na napapakinggan po natin ‘yung pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan. So, in simplest terms po, ‘yun po ang Open Government Partnership. Para ‘pag malalaman po natin kung ano ang mga kailangan nila, we will be able to respond effectively and efficiently po sa mga pangangailangan ng ating pinagsisilbihan, ‘yun po ang ating mga kababayan.

We have a lot of good initiatives and endeavors in pushing for open government in the country. 

Our mission here for OGPinas is to encourage and instill a culture of transparency, accountability, public participation, and overall, open government in the country.

Perhaps, you are a government employee desiring an open and clean governance; a student leader hoping for education that is open to all; a civil society member aiming to open public service to vulnerable sectors; or a citizen wanting an open dialogue with the government.

Whatever your purpose may be for participating this morning, we all have voices in today’s discussions and we will all be heard. Bawat isa po sa atin ay susi sa bukás na kinabukasan.

And I know that the Ilonggos are very passionate about the values of Open Government: transparency, public participation, and good governance.

That is why I am sure that if we work together, as I said to the Philippine Delegation in Estonia, the Philippines can be THE example of open government in Asia.Let us be empowered by our vision for an open government and let us empower others through this platform to make the changes we all desire for the betterment of our country—even beyond our Agenda for Prosperity.Sa pagkakataong ito, makipag-usap, maki-diyalogo, makilahok, at sama-sama nating abutin ang pareho nating mithiin: isang Bagong Pilipinas na may nagniningning na kinabukasan para sa lahat.  

Daghang salamat po! Uswag, Iloilo! At Uswag, OGPinas!

Wabillahi Tawfiq Wal Hidaya, Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.