To my dearest colleagues and fellow public servants from the Central and Regional Offices of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), magandang umaga po!
Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
First, congratulations to our Budget Information Legislative Service (BILS), led by our Undersecretary for Legal and Legislative Group, Usec. Janet Abuel and Director Trisha Baraan, for spearheading this Orientation on the DBM’s Actions on Proposed Legislative Measures and Executive Issuances.
This orientation is instrumental in fostering collaboration among our bureaus, services, and offices (B/S/Os), including our ROs who are joining us online, in preparing our consolidated position on proposed legislation with budgetary and organizational implications.
These include the measures under the Common Legislative Agenda (CLA) of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).
Foremost among these priority measures that we intend to pass before the end of the 19th Congress is the Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized Governance or the PBBM Governance Bill. This Bill aims to institutionalize and strengthen the government’s best practices on Public Financial Management (PFM) by strengthening our cash management, expediting the digitalization of our PFM processes and systems, and promoting fiscal discipline through the institutionalization of the Cash Budgeting System. It is currently in the last stages and we are pushing for its enactment because it will not only modernize the budget process but also facilitate citizen participation throughout the budget cycle.
Speaking of citizen participation, we are likewise renewing our call for the institutionalization of Freedom of Information (FOI). In his keynote address at the 2025 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting which the Philippines hosted last February, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. himself highlighted that “citizens can only truly participate in governance if they have access to information.”
And as Chair of the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP), I join the President in pushing for the immediate passage of the FOI Bill into law, true to our commitment to the OGP principles of transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in governance.
Another priority bill of the DBM is the National Government Rightsizing Program, and now it is called the Government Optimization Act, which was approved by the Senate on second reading just last February.
Through the GOP, we will optimize the government’s institutional capacity by establishing a lean, efficient, and responsive workforce. We will likewise strengthen various government entities by creating priority critical new positions that will effectively perform their respective functions—all to enhance the delivery of public services to the Filipino people.
Similar to the PBBM Governance Bill, the GOP is now in its advanced stages and its passage will be a testament to our commitment to bureaucratic efficiency.
We will likewise be processing fiscal reforms or revenue reforms from the Economic Team; our position paper on the Rationalization of the Mining Fiscal Regime, the Amendments to Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the E-Governance Act, and the Comprehensive Infrastructure Development Master Plan, among others. You know, here in the DBM, we receive a lot of Executive Orders, Admin Orders, and Bills both from the Senate and the House of Representatives. I think 90 percent of those filed in the Senate and the House passes through DBM for comments. So, mabuhay po kayong lahat!
And I am happy that the DBM is still spearheading reforms—ang dami na po nating napasang batas! So, thank you for helping us craft and prepare the National Budget and the New Government Procurement Act. We were in the Senate and House for three months, mula umaga hanggang gabi, and then after that, we are also helping with the crafting of the IRR which is equally important and nakakapagod din. We go home at 6 AM just to be able to beat the deadline. So, thank you very much for your help, to our Legal Team, our B/S/Os, and everyone. Sabi nga nila, this administration is a whole-of-government approach; here in DBM, it’s a whole-of-DBM-approach. So, thank you very much, palakpakan po natin ang ating mga sarili!
And there are no better people to lead us in these discussions than our colleagues from BILS who represent us in the deliberations on these legislative measures and proposed executive issuances. Maraming salamat at mabuhay po kayo!
So I am now leaving you in the very capable hands of our resource speakers from BILS, as well as from our Legal Service who will discuss the constitutional and legal provisions of the legislative process.
As a final remark, thank you for your unwavering commitment and dedication to not only carrying out your duties and responsibilities but also going the extra mile to help fulfill the needs and aspirations of the Filipino people.
Thank you once again and may today’s orientation be fruitful and dynamic.
Wabillahi Tawfiq Wal Hidaya, Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.
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