To the Executive Director of our Procurement Service (PS), Atty. Dennis Santiago, the government and business executives joining us today, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
First of all, let me congratulate PS-DBM on your efforts to bring accountability and credibility back to this office. It was great news when Atty. Santiago announced that last month, the government generated Php 681 million worth of savings in 2022 as a result of your efforts to ensure a more competitive, transparent, and efficient procurement system.
I am confident that PS-DBM will only get better, especially with our efforts towards digitalization. We have come a long way from the days when procurement was undertaken manually through phone calls, piles of requisition slips, and papers. Nowadays, we have PhilGEPS and government websites where transactions and announcements are made and can easily be monitored. Recently, PhilGEPS also expanded its digital payment options to ensure efficiency among stakeholders. And this is just the beginning.
This year, we are ramping up our efforts for a more efficient, accountable, and even sustainable procurement system. While we are on track with our Agenda for Prosperity—especially in enhancing digitalization in the government—we are also working hard towards mainstreaming sustainability through reforms such as Green Procurement.
The Green Public Procurement Roadmap will direct the government to procure Common-use Supplies and Equipment or CSEs with reduced environmental impact throughout their cycle. In line with this, there has been an increase in the number of government agencies adopting green specifications in non-CSE items, from 26 percent of all government agencies in 2018 to 58 percent in 2020. In November 2022, we also created the Green Public Procurement Committee to ensure that the roadmap will be implemented across the government. Let me just thank Atty. Dennis Santiago because he was the one who formulated the first roadmap for Green Procurement.
Moreover, a manual is being crafted to guide procurement practitioners in embedding green specifications in our Common-use Supplies and Equipment. This will put us closer to our ultimate goal of ensuring sustainable management and use of natural resources by 2030.
Given all these, centralized procurement is still more advantageous to the government and its people. Hence, I will continue to support PS-DBM while advocating for the restructuring of its organizational staffing and the amendment of the Government Procurement Reform Act which is already two decades old.
The law was authored by the late Senate President Edgardo Angara. It is an exemplary law but our society has changed drastically since its enactment, hence the need to update and revise it to reflect as well the latest social and technological developments that we can use to meet the law's noble objectives.
With the updated law, we will have the opportunity to put the right people in, thus ensuring accountability as well as the sustainability of the institution and our procurement system. I am confident that with the excellent leadership of Atty. Santiago, our reforms will be realized and executed with utmost integrity.
As we strive to create an efficient and transparent system—so that the public can hold accountable those who are in position—we seek your help in the sustainability aspect of our efforts as these will define our lives in the coming years and decades and impact our generations to come. We encourage you, our bidders, partners, and suppliers, to join us in ensuring that our economic transformation is not only inclusive, but also sustainable for the coming generations.
I believe that more partnerships can be forged and greater opportunities built as we foster accountability and sustainability in public procurement. With these two, we can look forward to a genuine, all-encompassing prosperity in our public institutions, private businesses, and ultimately, in our country.
As I always say, and echo Senator Angara, let us give every Filipino, including the man on the street with a family to feed, a fighting chance to create a better life for himself and for his family. This can be accomplished if we establish conducive conditions for them to reach their full potential. And this can be achieved through a sustainable and accountable procurement system that will make public service delivery more efficient and effective—one that Filipinos deserve and desire.
Once again, thank you very much for partnering with us.
As PS-DBM works hard to bring back accountability and credibility to the procurement system, let us take it to the next level with digitalization and efforts for sustainability.
Let’s see the best PS-DBM yet—one that would make both the late, great Senate President Edgardo Angara and future generations proud.
Maraming salamat po. Assalamu alaikum.
