To the City Government of Isabela, led by Mayor Sitti Djalia A. Turabin-Hataman;
Fellow women leaders and public servants from the National Government and the entire Province of Basilan;
And to all champions of women's empowerment and good governance: A pleasant morning!
Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
First and foremost, thank you for this opportunity to speak at the 2025 Basilan Women Executives and Legislators (BWEL) Convention, which has served as a meaningful platform to amplify the vital role of women in nation-building for the past four years and certainly in the years to come.
Shining a spotlight on our women leaders through the Nine Independent and Dynamic Advocates of Women Empowerment (NIDA) Awards, this event underscores the importance of women in bringing our Agenda for Prosperity to life—whether by expanding access to quality education and healthcare, promoting tourism, or sustaining peace and development in the region and beyond.
With all that women do for their families, communities, and our country, it is only fitting that we champion their rights and welfare through policies and initiatives rooted in good governance.
And so, I would like to commend the City Government of Isabela for fulfilling this mission through initiatives such as the Good Governance or GoGo Isabela Caravan. Under the leadership of a woman who was recently named one of the 2025 TOWNS Awardees for peacebuilding, courageous governance, and socio-economic development, it is no wonder that Isabela City actively empowers its people to participate in shaping a more transparent, participatory, efficient, and effective governance.
This effort at the local level strongly aligns with the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) commitment to good and open governance, which we fulfill through equitable public finance and gender-responsive budgeting.
We have been doing this as early as 1995, when the DBM introduced the “Women’s Budget” to implement programs and projects focused on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE). This was further strengthened by the Magna Carta of Women, which mandates all government departments and agencies to allocate a minimum of five percent of their total annual budgets for Gender and Development (GAD) initiatives.
However, as we are all aware, five percent alone is not enough, which is why I have made it my responsibility to advance gender mainstreaming across the entire National Budget, with particular focus on health, social protection, and peace sectors.
Under the Php 6.793 trillion proposed budget for FY 2026, the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) will receive Php 121 million for its Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Policy Development and Planning Program.
We also aim to improve public health outcomes, especially for children and pregnant women, by providing some Php 10.24 billion for the Department of Health’s nationally-procured commodities for family health, immunization, nutrition, and responsible parenting. This will be complemented by the National Nutrition Council’s Tutok Kainan Dietary Supplementation Program, which will be allocated with Php 50 million to augment the food and nutrient intake of undernourished pregnant mothers and children aged 6-23 months.
Meanwhile, the Cancer and Assistance Fund will receive Php 1.25 billion to fund the costs of cancer prevention, screening, early detection, and treatment, helping women who are disproportionately affected by breast and cervical cancer.
Moreover, we are also promoting women’s economic empowerment through the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), with a budget of Php 113 billion, to provide conditional cash transfers to qualified household beneficiaries, including cash grants to lactating mothers, pregnant women, and parents with two-year-old children.
Recognizing the vital role of local governments in directly responding to the needs and aspirations of our citizens, we are also providing Php 5.0 billion for the Financial Assistance Funds to LGUs. This will fund priority programs, particularly those that support women-led social enterprises and empower women as key drivers of economic growth.
Finally, to strengthen the vital role of women as peacebuilders, we are allocating Php 12 million to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Center of Excellence—where I also have the privilege to serve as Chairperson of its Advisory Council—to support programs that advance women's leadership in inclusive and sustainable peace processes.
These are all under the proposed national budget that we submitted to Congress.
On top of these, due to recent developments in the ongoing budget deliberations and following our 2026 agenda to prioritize nurturing future generations, the President has directed that the Php 255.5 billion originally allocated for flood control projects of the DPWH will now be redirected to fund priority programs on education, health, food security, and social protection.
These are just some of our key investments in women’s empowerment.
At dahil gusto po talaga nating suportahan ang gender development and ensure that the budget for this is utilized to achieve the greatest impact, we will soon track the levels of our GAD budget, monitor the programs where it was spent, and assess the results it has delivered to our communities through a GAD Programs Accountability Dashboard which we are developing now. This landmark initiative by the DBM and the PCW will ensure that numbers truly translate to meaningful outcomes for every Filipino, especially women.
Aside from this, the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Assessment for the first time now includes a gender-responsive PFM (GRPFM) assessment, evaluating the capacity of our PFM systems to respond to the unique needs of women and men in our country. And the results are promising! The assessment showed that we perform above the basic level in seven out of nine key areas of the GRPFM indicators. So we have been doing well pero galingan pa po natin so we can get a perfect score!
And I am confident that the government, together with the civil society organizations, can achieve even greater progress for our women as we, at the DBM, continue to create more avenues for people’s participation through the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP)—a multi-stakeholder group responsible for implementing the country's open governance agenda.
Just recently, we reactivated our OGPinas! Nationwide Advocacy Campaign to energize active public participation in governance, particularly in shaping the nation’s budget, policies, and programs. And I am happy to share that the first run of OGPinas! this year was held in the Zamboanga Peninsula—the home of the City Government of Isabela.
So, to the women executives and legislators present here today, allow me to reiterate our call in OGPinas!—to bring the government closer to every Filipino in a Bagong Pilipinas redefined by genuine gender equality and meaningful women’s participation in governance.
Sama-sama nating tiyakin ang pag-angat ng mga kababaihan at siguruhin na walang maiiwan sa ating pagtahak sa kaunlaran. Dahil sa Bagong Pilipinas, Bawat Babae Mahalaga.
Maraming salamat po. Mabuhay ang mga kababaihan!
Wabillahi Tawfiq Wal Hidaya, Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.
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