Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In his fourth State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. (PBBM) expressed the Filipino people's wish: for the government to be responsive to their needs. Thus, he emphasized that, for the next three years of his administration, all government efforts will be geared to provide better public service, and to surpass previous achievements in elevating our people’s quality of life.

It is in this spirit of service that we, at the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), have been pushing for the institutionalization of government reforms, the pillars that will pave the way for modern, fast, efficient, effective, sustainable, inclusive, and truly responsive services.

I am happy to note that two of our reform agenda items have been passed into law.

A landmark legislation is the New Government Procurement Act, the country's biggest anti-corruption measure to date. It modernizes the government's procurement processes, boosting transparency, accountability, and efficiency. It features the eMarketplace, where agencies can “add to cart” essential goods and services, reducing procurement time from the usual 4 to 6 months to just 7 to 30 days. Further, it establishes several innovative procurement approaches to provide greater flexibility, streamline processes, and better align with the diverse requirements of various projects. It also encourages citizen participation, allowing representatives from the private sector and civil society organizations to observe the proceedings to ensure transparency.

On Aug. 5, PBBM also signed the Government Optimization Act, which grants the President authority to reorganize the Executive Branch—to merge, strengthen, transfer, or phase out redundant or overlapping agencies and functions. It will streamline the bureaucracy, making it smarter, more agile, and responsive to our people's needs, through thoughtful and fair procedures, guided by the principles of efficiency, transparency, and social protection, in consultation with stakeholders. Thus, we are proud to co-chair the Committee on Optimizing the Executive Branch alongside the Executive Secretary. Rest assured that we will lead this historic undertaking with integrity and purpose.

We welcome the passage of these two laws with deep gratitude to the President and our legislators, and renewed optimism, as we pursue our goal of ensuring that every peso spent on programs, activities, and projects, and every position created and agency sustained contributes meaningfully to our collective progress.

As we enter the second half of the PBBM administration, I believe it is vital to fortify the foundation of our Bagong Pilipinas by making it more open, efficient, inclusive, and empowering for our people.

In this regard, we in the Executive Branch are strongly advocating the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) Bill in the 20th Congress to promote proactive disclosure and data accuracy, combat disinformation, protect whistleblowers, and ultimately, encourage people to participate in governance, guaranteeing that our nation's development is truly of, by, and for the people.

As you may know, our country is yet to pass an enabling law that upholds this constitutional right. Thus, the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP), which I chair, in partnership with the Presidential Communications Office, has conducted a series of stakeholder consultations to make the RTI Bill a legislative priority. We are grateful to PBBM for supporting its passage.

To this end, I am glad that the chambers of Congress passed their respective resolutions to make the national budget process fully transparent and participatory. Senate Resolution No. 4 requires all budget-related documents to be published online at the official websites of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Through this, the public may submit analyses, suggestions, and feedback on the national budget. Meanwhile, House Resolution No. 94 was filed in the 20th Congress to institutionalize public participation in budget deliberations by granting bona fide people’s organizations an official non-voting observer status in public hearings of the Committee on Appropriations. Indeed, these moves to institutionalize reforms toward a people-centered budget process are timely and aligned with what we have been advocating. Hence, we support these initiatives.

We are also advocating for the passage into law of the Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized Governance Bill to ensure the timely implementation of programs and projects and encourage citizen participation throughout the budget process.

This Bill aims to institutionalize and strengthen the government’s best practices on Public Financial Management (PFM) by strengthening cash management through the institutionalization of the Treasury Single Account; expediting the digitalization of PFM systems by adopting the Integrated Financial Management Information System; and promoting fiscal discipline through the institutionalization of the Cash Budgeting System.

Beyond budget, the PBBM administration is steadfast in advocating legislative reforms to pave the way for a Bagong Pilipinas that is inclusive, transparent, accountable, empowering, and responsive to the people's needs, enabling them to fully participate in governance. However, laws and regulations can only be successful when everyone is involved. Let us then all work together to build a strong foundation for our nation now and for the future.