Easter Greetings to everyone! Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has risen and by His glorious resurrection, he redeemed all of us! He has brought life and hope to all of us and opened the gates of heaven. Now, some good news! Our media group, Bulong Pulungan, recently got together after not seeing each, thanks to the pandemic, to meet a refreshingly simple and charming secretary of the Department of Budget and Management. Amenah F. Pangandaman  is flanked by Julie Yap Daza, tha Author and Rina David, seated.  Standing are USEC Goddess Librian, Pete Dacuycuy, Frank Evaristo, Joy Fong, Cynthia and Ed Santiago, ad Henry Lato.
She is Amenah F. Pangandaman, who has royal blood. In Mindanao, she is a princess. She is also one of the youngest in the Marcos cabinet. She comes to the very important post, with the right academic credentials and sterling experience in serving the country. She went to the lunch at the XO resto at S’Maison in a simple off-the-rack dress by a local designer. She was blooming and we told her so. Amenah—“Please dont call me princess,” she told us—offers diversity and fresh perspective to an otherwise male-dominated team of economic technocrats. A Maranao with roots from the south, she is an only child of two former government public servants. (She is also still single.) She aims to give Mindanao a voice in her capacity as a public servant in the different branches of government. Having served in the legislative and executive branches, as well as in the Central Bank or Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), she has a unique perspective on the Philippine bureaucracy and a deep understanding of the interplay among the different sectors and agencies in the economic sector. DBM Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman
She has served as the concurrent assistant governor for strategic communication and advocacy and executive offices coordinator. In that capacity, she was a key implementor of the BSP’s strategic initiatives aimed at bringing the Central Bank closer to the Filipino people. She also championed financial inclusion and digital transformation and steered the execution of major projects supporting the governor’s goals within and outside the halls of the BSP. With her extensive experience in the legislative branch, she advocated for the enactment of the BSP’s priority legislative measures. Prior to her appointment in the DBM, she oversaw the enactment of budget laws as the chief-of-staff to former Senate President Edgardo J. Angara and Committee of Finance chairperson Senator Loren B. Legarda. As the chief of the DBM, Pangandaman vows to support the incoming administration’s mission toward a broad-based and inclusive economic recovery. In this line, she now aims to pursue prudent management of the government’s fiscal resources, the modernization of the budget system, incorporation of sustainability and green principles in government spending, and finally, the promotion of sustainable economic growth through strategic investment in high-impact infrastructure and human capital development. To achieve these game-changing reforms, she now serves as the chairperson of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB), Government Quality Management Committee (GQMC), and the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP). She advocates for policies and reforms that promote local empowerment and development. She also serves as the chairperson for the National Government—Bangsamoro Government Intergovernmental Relations Body (IGRB) and Committee on Devolution (ComDev). She has a degree in Economics from the Far Eastern University and a diploma and master’s degree in Development Economics from the University of the Philippines. She was pursuing her Executive Master of Public Administration from the London School of Economics but is currently on leave to serve the DBM. Good luck, Amenah!