BACOLOD CITY – Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Monday urged elected local government officials in the fifth district of Negros Occidental to adopt the Open Government Partnership (OGP) as she administered their mass oathtaking at the Moises Padilla municipal auditorium.

Pangandaman said the national government, under the leadership of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., stands ready to support every local government unit (LGU) to foster local development by providing needed financial resources, technical assistance, and policy guidance that ensures the effectiveness of local development initiatives.

“With that, I would like to take this opportunity to urge every local government leader here today to join us in our journey toward empowering our local communities and bringing the government closer to the people through the Open Government Partnership,” she said in her message.

Pangandaman, steering committee chairperson of the Philippine OGP, said through the OGP Agenda, the national government is encouraging LGUs to be more transparent, accountable, participatory, and inclusive.

“We are asking for your support to help us address a critical open governance challenge, and that is to ensure that access to information is genuinely inclusive and responsive to the local level,” she said.

Elected officials of the municipalities of Moises Padilla, La Castellana, Isabela, Hinigaran, and Binalbagan, and Himamaylan City took their oaths of office before Pangandaman, in the presence of fifth district Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo and Board Members Rita Gatuslao and Hadji Trojillo.

In his second term, Yulo said he has the honor not just of being reelected, but also the solemn responsibility of steering the district with the help of the local chief executives and serving the people with more results.

“We want to show that here in the fifth district, even the smallest LGU (Moises Padilla) is included. No one will be left behind,” he said. (with PNA)