Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

Every child holds a promise for the future of our country. To reach their full potential and be productive members of society, they must be given a fair start in a nurturing, safe, and secure environment — not only to survive but to thrive.

At the ceremonial signing of a joint circular between the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on the establishment of Child Development Centers by local government units (LGUs), President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. emphasized, “We must ensure that the foundations for the full development of our children are met.”

Thus, as Public Financial Management (PFM) Committee chair, I gladly welcome the results of the first-ever Child-Responsive Public Financial Management (ChPFM) Assessment. Launched on June 10, 2025, alongside four other Public Expenditure and Financial Assessment (PEFA) Reports, and with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as our main partner, the ChPFM Assessment Report, covering data from fiscal years (FYs) 2021-2023 (some from 2024), aims to contribute to building government systems that foster child development while promoting more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable fiscal policies and allocation of public resources.

The assessment revealed that the Philippines has begun laying the groundwork for a PFM system that is responsive to children’s needs. At the national level, children-related priorities are reflected in national budget documents, particularly in the FY 2024 People’s Budget and Technical Notes, which highlight investments in education, health, and social protection.

Social sector agencies have strategic plans and reporting tools that include some age-disaggregated information, and outcome and impact indicators related to children. Congress analyzes the budget impact on child programs and considers the effects of programs on children during budget reviews. Periodic program evaluations are conducted, and audit reports are beginning to reflect child-related expenditures, especially in agencies with child-focused mandates.

At the local level, LGUs are mandated to allocate one percent of their internal revenue allotment to child protection programs. They are also beginning to track and tag child-related spending of budget allocations using the Child-Friendly Governance Audit.

However, the assessment identified several challenges, including the absence of mandatory child impact analysis and limited child-related information in budget policy proposals, as well as in revenue and expenditure on public investments; the lack of alignment between the budget and child-related performance targets; the need for formal systems for tracking, unified reporting, and evaluating child-related expenditures; and the lack of child-sensitive lens in audit mechanisms.

To address these identified challenges, the report puts forward several recommendations.

First is the establishment of the policy basis for making the Philippines’ PFM child-responsive, with a tagging and tracking mechanism for budget allocations and expenditures at the national and local levels. Second is to integrate child-impact assessment into proposed changes in government expenditures and revenue policies, as well as in feasibility or pre-feasibility studies of major investment projects. Third is to issue a budget circular that provides clear guidance for agencies on highlighting the justification or planned results for children in their proposals, supported by age-disaggregated data. Fourth is for agencies to align child-related performance targets and indicators with the national/sector medium-term plans to ensure that resources are directed toward achieving long-term development goals.

To foster openness, transparency, accountability, effective resource use, and participatory governance, the assessment underscores the need to publish reports on outcomes and assessments on the impact on children of government expenditures and the implementation of budget policies, and to encourage the conduct of citizen participatory audits focused on children.

With these, I believe that the ChPFM provides the baseline data on the emerging child-focused budgeting at the national level and the integration of children’s welfare at all stages of our PFM. 

I am pleased to share that during the PFM Committee Principals Meeting on April 22, 2025, UNICEF Philippines Country Representative Behzad Noubary commended our government, saying we are poised to become “a pioneering voice in the global movement to institutionalize child-responsive PFM,” and noted the potential value of adopting a National Child Policy Framework similar to the existing gender-responsive budgeting.

In our effort to determine the needs of future leaders and nation-builders, I engaged in a dialogue with children aged 10 to 15 years old during the Open Government Week 2025. The event provided the children and youth with a platform to voice their concerns and share their aspirations for the kind of future they hope to inherit.

In addition, the DBM partnered with the European Union and UNICEF to establish a Public Finance Facility (PFF) that will help shape budgets responsive to children’s needs, develop a budget tagging tool, and further involve children in policy dialogues.

Beyond budget, the results of the ChPFM show our growing commitment to integrating children’s welfare at all stages of our PFM. Armed with this assessment, we, in the PBBM administration, will further champion our children’s needs as a central priority so we may realize our Bagong Pilipinas, with not only a strong economy now, but a compassionate, resilient, and inclusive future that leaves no one behind.