Speeches

4th Ruperto P. Alonzo Memorial Lecture

February 6, 2026

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To Dr. Ma. Joy Abrenica, Dean of the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) and Executive Director of the Philippine Center for Economic Development (PCED); 

Mr. Ramon Bacani, Convenor of the UPSE Program in Development Alumni Association (PDEAA); 

​​Civil Society Co-Chair of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Steering Committee and UPSE Professor, Dr. Cielo Magno;​​​ ​​​​

​​​To other panelists here, Dr. Romulo Emmanuel Miral Jr., Deputy Secretary General of the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD);​​ here, Dr. Romulo Emmanuel Miral, Deputy Secretary General of the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department;​​ 

​​​Former President and CEO of Pag-IBIG Fund, Ma’am Zorayda Amelia “Mel” Alonzo;​​ 

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monetary Board Member Benjamin Diokno; 

Fellow public servants in the government, students, faculty members, researchers, guests from the UP community, and partner institutions: 

A pleasant afternoon to all of you! 

Allow me to begin by extending my heartfelt appreciation to our partners in the academe for inviting me to the 4th Ruperto P. Alonzo Memorial Lecture. Today’s discussions are particularly timely, as they coincide with a crucial phase in the national budget process. We are currently implementing the FY 2026 National Budget, which as you may know was passed last January 5, while just last week, we began preparing the FY 2027 budget through a series of budget forums with government agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), during which—I assure you—we amplified the call to safeguard our budget from corruption. 

I have been Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for only two months, having taken my oath before the President last December 9, 2025. 

But I have been with the DBM for almost 39 years. Sino dito ang ​almost​​ ​39​ years old​? So hindi pa kayo pinapanganak, nasa DBM na ako. And so I can honestly tell you—having witnessed and served the DBM under President Cory Aquino, President Ramos, President Estrada, President Arroyo, PNoy, President Duterte, and now President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.—that the DBM is a good institution, with sincere public servants who want the best for the country. Hindi lahat ng nasa gobyerno ay masama.  

Personally, I can say that my journey in the DBM—from serving as an Accounts Analyst to now being Secretary—has given me a deep sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. It allows me to serve—to offer my work not for myself but for the institution and for our nation. 

But of all these, what gave me joy was becoming Head of the Secretariat of the Philippine Open Government Partnership in 2019. I was already at the DBM when the Philippines joined OGP in 2011, with President Barack Obama leading the launch with our very own President Benigno Aquino III. And so I have a special appreciation of our role as stewards of our public funds, recognizing that upholding fiscal integrity is a profound responsibility, and we commit to fulfilling it with transparency and accountability to the Filipino people. 

DBM Mandate 

As you may know, the DBM’s mandate is to ensure the sound, efficient, and effective use of government resources in support of national socioeconomic and political development goals. 

Likewise, the DBM is the government’s central fiscal authority, handling budget preparation, authorization, execution, and accountability. We ensure public funds align with national priorities, policy reforms, and development plans. We also strengthen our public institutions and public service delivery through budget reforms, performance-based planning, and public financial management (PFM) initiatives. 

Because this mandate carries both authority and responsibility, the effectiveness of government spending ultimately depends on how well the budget is controlled at every stage of the process. 

Recent issues surrounding flood control projects have brought national attention to the integrity of our governance systems. Allegations of substandard infrastructure and projects that failed to protect our people’s lives and properties raised serious questions—not only about individual projects, but also about how public funds are planned, monitored, and accounted for.

As Chair of the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) and the PFM Committee, we at the DBM have spearheaded several reforms to combat corruption in public finance.  

Now, allow me to walk you through the key control points throughout the budget process and explain how they ensure that public funds are spent wisely and responsibly. 

Budget preparation 

First, we safeguard our National Budget through rigorous planning. We require every proposal to be evidence-based, aligned with national priorities, and supported by clear objectives. This helps us address underspending and stay on course despite limited fiscal space and external pressures. 

Next, we assess how agencies utilized previous budgets and evaluate the progress of their mandated programs and projects. We require that proposals be supported by data, previous performance metrics, and detailed program plans with clear procurement and implementation​ timelines and​ milestones. This ensures that only implementation-ready, high-impact proposals receive funding, reinforcing both equity and the effective allocation of public resources. 

We also strengthen the budget process locally through the Regional Development Councils (RDCs), which serve as the institutional platform for harmonizing local and regional priorities with national development directions.  

For the FY 2027 National Budget Call, we further expanded the role of the RDCs in the budget process. Priority programs and projects in the regions are now required to secure RDC endorsement, reinforcing coordination among national government agencies, their regional offices, local government units, and CSO representatives, ensuring that national resources respond more effectively to on-the-ground realities. 

In collaboration with the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) and other concerned agencies, the DBM is also implementing Program Convergence Budgeting (PCB), which utilizes a whole-of-government approach in implementing programs and projects. In fact, the FY 2026 National Budget consists of 15 PCB programs that directly support the priorities of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028. Through the PCB, agencies will converge to meet common objectives, thereby reducing redundancies and making government work more efficiently and prudently. 

And believe it or not, we at the DBM, especially as we chair the Philippine Open Government Partnership, also ensure transparency in the National Budget. In fact, we topped the latest Open Budget Survey, as we made sure of our timely publication of key budget documents, making all our documents available to the public as close to real time as possible, especially our People’s Budget series—which we have been publishing as far back as 2008. As such, we currently hold the No. 1 spot in fiscal transparency in Asia and No. 1 in Public Participation in Southeast Asia based on the Open Budget Survey, which evaluates 125 countries around the world.  

I believe this is one of the very reasons why our citizens are able to comment and even criticize the budget. And for us at the DBM, this is good because it is the sign of a thriving democracy, where the government reports to the people and the people can give the government feedback.  

By publishing our budget documents, we empower our citizens to scrutinize budget allocations and take an active role in the country’s ongoing fight against corruption.  

Additionally, the DBM website now features a Budget Analytics Dashboard that allows anyone to track the progress of our national budget, including the Local Government Support Fund and the National Expenditure Program (NEP) Budget Dimensions. Currently, we have seven working dashboards, and we still have two more in the pipeline.  

Beyond ensuring budget transparency, we are also revolutionizing how we prepare the National Budget through the Technical Innovations in the NEP Application or Project TINA, named after one of our most respected budget chiefs, my predecessor as Undersecretary of the DBM Budget Preparation and Execution (BPE) Group, and former OIC of the DBM, the late Undersecretary Tina Rose Marie L. Canda. 

Project TINA will automate NEP drafting and formatting, significantly reducing the time and risk of discrepancies in NEP report generation and review. In partnership with the Legislature and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), we are further strengthening Project TINA’s systems to ensure it is fully operational when we roll it out next year for the FY 2028 budget preparation. 

Budget legislation 

Moving forward to the next phase, while the DBM no longer has control over budget legislation, we remain steadfast in protecting the national budget by amplifying our people’s longstanding call for greater transparency and a more open budget legislation process. 

As part of the Executive Branch, the DBM is not privy to the proceedings of the Bicameral Conference Committee, which is already part of the budget authorization phase of the budget cycle and therefore within the purview of the legislative branch. However, when the DBM is requested or required to be present, while we cannot posit opinions or recommendations or take part in any decision-making, we make ourselves available as resource persons to provide necessary factual information. 

We also welcome the development that both the House of Representatives and the Senate have adopted transparency measures during their budget deliberations, particularly the historic livestreaming of the Bicameral Conference Committee meetings last year and the meaningful engagement of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in congressional budget proceedings. 

Budget execution 

In terms of budget execution, we issued National Budget Call 595-A in September 2025, requiring agencies to submit a certification supporting the request to release Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) for accounts payable or due and demandable obligations for infrastructure projects, to ensure that all financial reports and submissions are accurate, truthful, and fully supported by complete documentation. 

Likewise, we are strengthening our PFM systems through the continuous implementation of the Public Financial Management Reforms Roadmap 2024-2028. This serves as our blueprint for digitalizing our PFM processes and accelerating the adoption of an Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) across all government agencies.  

IFMIS connects budgeting, treasury, accounting, payroll and human resource functions, reporting, and monitoring into a unified digital ecosystem. 

Last year, we began rolling out its interoperable core, the Budget and Treasury Management System (BTMS), to support real-time online accounting, monitoring, and oversight of obligations and disbursements. This has three main modules, covering budget management, treasury functions, and budget execution. This year, we are also working on the inclusion of the National Tax Allotment (NTA) module and the reconfiguration of the Unified Accounts Code Structure. 

The initial rollout included seven pilot agencies, including the DBM, Department of Finance, and Department of Education, among others. This year, until 2027, we will expand its implementation to cover all 315 agencies and reach almost 10,000 users, fully realizing our goal of full IFMIS integration of NGAs linked via the BTMS.  

Another reform that harnesses the power of technology is the Blockchain Application for the Action Document Releasing System (ADRS), launched by the DBM in July 2025. The blockchain application strengthens transparency and accountability by allowing both DBM and the public to independently verify the authenticity and integrity of key budget release documents, such as Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) and Notices of Cash Allocation (NCAs). Through the public verification portal, citizens can confirm that these documents are genuine and untampered, reinforcing trust in the budget release process under the General Appropriations Act (GAA). 

Building on this foundation, phase 2 will implement a multi-year blockchain tokenization program that expands beyond ADRS to include additional DBM systems and prepare for the full integration with the IFMIS. 

Recognizing that a significant portion of our government expenditures goes to public procurement, we also strengthened our procurement systems by successfully amending our decades-old procurement law to better align it with the needs of our systems and citizens. The New Government Procurement Act (NGPA), which our very own Procurement Service and Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB), with our Legal Service, crafted and which we are very proud of, has been globally recognized as one of the biggest anti-corruption measures of the government. 

The law requires the disclosure of data and documents at all stages of procurement through the adoption of Open Contracting Standards to allow the public to track government spending. This is supplemented by the digitalization of procurement systems and the mechanisms that enable public participation. 

We have also made significant strides in enhancing beneficial ownership transparency. The Procurement Service of the DBM (PS-DBM) now requires merchants to submit beneficial ownership information (BOI), which can even be accessed by the public once a BOI Registry is published in the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS). This assures transparency as it provides information on the ultimate beneficiaries behind corporations—preventing collusion, fraud, and conflicts of interest. To ensure compliance, submission of the BOI document is now required to secure the PhilGEPS Platinum Certificate of Registration.  

For purposes of establishing the BOI Registry, PS-DBM is closely coordinating with the Securities and Exchange Commission in validating the BOI submitted by merchants, and I am pleased to note that 9,815 out of 12,432 Platinum member-corporations have already complied with this requirement for beneficial ownership information since its implementation in July 2025.   

Budget accountability 

In response to the big issues that our nation faced over the past year, the DBM also strengthened the Budget Accountability phase of the budget cycle by improving our monitoring and evaluation systems. 

In August 2025, we launched the Flood Control Project component of Project DIME, or the Digital Information for Monitoring and Evaluation. Using modern technologies such as satellites, drones, and geotagging, not only the government but also citizens can monitor and evaluate the status, progress, and activities of big-ticket government infrastructure projects on the ground. This also has a feedback platform where people can share insights and concerns anytime, anywhere, further promoting transparency and accountability. 

The initial dataset was sourced from the 2025 GAA, comprising more than 2,500 entries. To address challenges due to insufficient information, we are currently gathering additional data for publication on the website, and we are continuously conducting a Functionality Testing Workshop with DIME partner agencies to further improve the platform. 

We also enhanced our Agency Performance Reviews (APR), which hold agencies accountable for the physical and financial targets they have committed to achieve. Last October, we launched the Budget ng Bayan Monitor, which reports the FY 2024 APR results, detailing the agencies’ budget utilization rates and program implementation challenges and achievements. And we will continue to improve our Monitoring and Evaluation efforts.  

Legislative reforms 

These reforms align with our commitment to the Open Government Partnership’s (OGP) principles of transparency, accountability, and citizen participation. Beyond those safeguards that directly support our budget process, we are also advancing legislative reforms, such as the Right to Information (RTI) law. While we already have local Freedom of Information ordinances, as you know, a national law would further institutionalize citizens’ rights to access government-held documents and to participate in government processes.  

We are also actively advocating for the passage of the proposed Philippine Budgeting Code (previously PBBM Bill), which aims to codify all budget-related provisions under existing laws, rules and regulations; institutionalize and strengthen the country’s Public Financial Management (PFM) systems using digitalization, particularly the adoption of IFMIS, across all agencies to ensure seamless and efficient government financial transactions; and institutionalize citizen participation in the budget process.  Through this, we aim to improve government accountability to the people, embed mechanisms to ensure fiscal sustainability, drive digital transformation in PFM, and empower the people through participatory budgeting. 

These bills have been included in the priority measures for Good Governance, Transparency, and Anti-Corruption category under the Common Legislative Agenda for the 20th Congress as endorsed by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC). 

Closing 

In closing, let me reiterate that protecting fiscal integrity is not the sole responsibility of one agency. It is a shared responsibility of public servants who implement the National Budget, of lawmakers who provide oversight, with the help of citizens who must not stay quiet but demand that public institutions function effectively and efficiently, and more importantly, with integrity. 

At the DBM, we are strengthening systems so that corruption finds no easy entry point and public resources are genuinely used for their intended purpose. 

The fight for fiscal integrity is continuous, evolving alongside changes in our economy and technology. What must remain constant, however, is our unwavering commitment to genuinely, sincerely, and honestly serve our people. So, as we continue to work on restoring public trust in our government, let us move forward with clarity, alignment, and a renewed commitment to ensure that every peso spent delivers real value and that public funds truly serve the public good. 

With that, let’s get our discussions rolling! Maraming salamat po. 

 

END