To my colleagues from the national government, our development partners, members of the legislative branch, and all public financial management researchers and practitioners present today, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. 

Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  

First and foremost, I extend my warmest gratitude to the Asian Development Bank for hosting this Workshop Series dedicated to the development of the Philippine Public Financial Management (PFM) Reforms Roadmap 2024 to 2028—a blueprint that will harmonize PFM policies across agencies and enable the full digitalization of PFM processes.  

Through this workshop, we hope to review the PFM Reforms developed in the past years; identify gaps, potential challenges, and key learnings; and formulate key strategies in enhancing the implementation of these reforms over the medium term.  

And with about 25 agencies present here today, we can all look forward to an exchange of inspiring ideas and innovative strategies that will help revolutionize the PFM landscape and further improve and harmonize our reforms, policies, and systems in the bureaucracy. 

Very briefly, allow me to share some budget reforms that we are implementing to ensure sound and efficient PFM in the country.  

True to our commitment to the Filipino people, we are ensuring better and strategic planning and improving our budget preparation and execution process so that we can address the perennial challenge of underspending. We have integrated Performance-Informed Budgeting in the national budget where agencies include their Major Final Outputs (MFOs) and other performance targets for their respective programs and projects—making it easier to evaluate their spending performance. 

As Budget Secretary, institutionalizing and digitalizing our PFM systems have always been one of my top priorities. As such, we have been ramping up our digital transformation, starting with the adoption of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) across all government agencies, which we are approaching in a phased manner. 

We are first developing the Budget and Treasury Management System or BTMS, with the primary objective of promoting fiscal discipline by improving resource allocation, allowing real-time transaction monitoring, and implementing comprehensive and automated accounting systems.  

Alongside this, the DBM also recently launched Project TINA or the Technical Innovations in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) Application Project, which aims to create a unified system that will automate the budget process and boost operational efficiency. 

Still towards bureaucratic efficiency, part of our vision is to be a champion of world-class procurement reforms. And to turn this vision into reality, we are advocating amendments to the decades-old Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) which will address bottlenecks to efficient government spending and ultimately improve the use of public funds. The new landmark law aims to achieve global standards in procurement by leveraging digitalization for efficiency and transparency through the establishment of the electronic Marketplace—an online platform where agencies may directly procure supplies and equipment from competent and reputable suppliers.  

We will also champion sustainability with green public procurement by encouraging agencies to procure common-use supplies and equipment items with green specifications.  

And, in line with our commitment to promoting open governance, we will be introducing a participatory procurement process where members of the non-government sector will serve as observers during procurement proceedings. 

This is also true to the spirit of the Philippine Open Government Partnership, which was institutionalized through Executive Order No. 31, s. 2023. And I am happy to share that we continue to be recognized as a global leader in the open governance space, with OGP Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Pradhan naming the Philippines as “a country with open government in its DNA” during the OGP Global Summit in Tallinn, Estonia last year.  

Amid all these, we are not forgetting our PFM practitioners themselves who play a pivotal role in promoting bureaucratic efficiency and ensuring sound fiscal management. 

Just last year, we expanded our Public Financial Management Competency Program (PFMCP) to capacitate not only budget officers from national government agencies, but also from the local government units. Through this program, we hope to train budget officers on the intricacies of budget preparation and execution, financial accountability, and effective resource management. And I am proud to share that we have already empowered more than 4,500 PFM practitioners—and counting—nationwide, since our program started.  

For 2024, we are planning to bring the PFMCP to at least ten (10) more regions and engage with thousands of local budget officers.  

As you can see, the DBM is committed to championing innovative, responsive, and sustainable budget and procurement policies and reforms that will enable the government to steer the country towards inclusive and sustainable economic development. Through the development of the PFM Reforms Roadmap, we hope to achieve our Agenda for Prosperity and ultimately, a future-proof and sustainable economy.  

So with the help of our partners such as the ADB, let us all work together in implementing game-changing reforms towards the equitable, prudent, transparent, and accountable use of public funds—and towards a Bagong Pilipinas that fulfills its promise of prosperity to everyone.  

Thank you very much.