Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Assistant Governor Amenah F. Pangandaman has accepted the invitation from President-elect Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to serve as the new administration’s Department of Budget and Management (DBM) secretary.
In a statement on Monday, May 30, Pangandaman has pledged to manage the country’s fiscal resources in pursuit of national development goals.
“As-Salāmu `Alaykum. It is my honor to serve the Filipino people during this critical juncture in our history,” Pangandaman said.
“As Budget and Management Secretary, I will do my utmost to live up to the trust placed in me by the President-elect and craft responsive budget and management policies that will support our rebuilding efforts from the pandemic,” she added.
Pangandaman identified the modernization of the budget system and incorporation of sustainability principles in government spending as her key priorities upon her assumption.
“The pandemic was a challenge like no other in the way it stretched our resources and set us back on our goals as a nation. My team and I vow to work with the rest of the economic team and continue the policies and reforms that we have long fought for,” Pangandaman said.
“We will strive to ensure prudent and transparent use of public funds in a way that allows us to regain lost ground while also uplifting the lives of the ordinary Filipino,” she noted.
Pangandaman is no stranger to the complex budget process, having served as DBM undersecretary and Group Head of the Office of Secretary under then Budget Secretary and now incoming Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno from 2016 to 2019.
During her near three-year term, she served as a key mover in the preparation, implementation, and monitoring of the General Appropriations Act.
She also oversaw the implementation of Green, Green, Green—a budget assistance program for local government units to develop sustainable public open spaces.
Pangandaman currently serves as the BSP’s Concurrent Assistant Governor for Strategic Communication and Advocacy and Executive Offices Coordinator under where she leads the efforts to operationalize the central bank’s promise to bring it closer to the Filipino people.
Drawing on her formidable experience in the Legislative Branch as chief of staff to former Senate President Edgardo J. Angara and then Chairperson of the Senate Finance Committee Loren B. Legarda, Pangandaman actively lobbied for the enactment of the central bank’s priority legislative measures around financial inclusion, digital transformation, and consumer protection.
Pangandaman earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Far Eastern University.
She holds a diploma and master’s degree in Development Economics from the University of the Philippines and is currently pursuing her Executive Master of Public Administration from the London School of Economics.