Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah "Mina" Flamiano Pangandaman vowed to uphold transparency and push the passage of the freedom of information (FOI) Bill in the 20th Congress.
The Budget chief, who met some content creators and media practitioners in the City of San Fernando on Wednesday, said amendments to the new government procurement act, particularly sections on transparency have been approved.
She said this will streamline the procurement process of the DBM Procurement Service.
"First, we like to have and go live in all and the whole procurement processes, from bidding, posting to project implementation. Second, there will be citizens' participation in the procurement process so in every and all BAC [Bids and Awards Committee], there will be one representative from civil society," she said, emphasizing it would ensure transparency and accountability.
"Third, the e-market place has been institutionalized. It is like Shopee and Lazada where one could choose what to procure. Pa click-click ka lang. For example, the BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] bought 14 vehicles from us recently. The units arrived to them in just nine days compared to the months before, and they were able to save something like P6 million," shared Pangandaman.
The Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP), which she chairs, hosted the 2025 OGP Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting last February, gathering representatives from government, civil society, academé, and the private sector to enhance citizen participation in governance.
"Ang PH-OGP ay bahagi ng malakas na pamamahala with transparency and accountability. Citizen participation in governance requires access to information. And it will be made possible by the institutionalization of FOI---which has been branded to Right to Information---Bill, through legislation in the 20th Congress and DBM supports this," she said.
The PH-OGP, in partnership with the Presidential Communications Office, has conducted a series of stakeholder consultations to revisit strategies and chart the next steps for the passage of the FOI Bill.
In this initiative, Pangandaman earned the support of the business community due to its ongoing efforts to advance the people’s right to access information.
The Makati Business Club hopes the 20th Congress will consider enacting the FOI Bill as one of the priority legislative measures, as it is seen to significantly impact the business community by fostering transparency, accountability, and empowered citizenship.
Pangandaman added that the government's emphasis on transparency and accountability in all its processes, commitment to upholding access to information and fiscal openness, has earned the country the recognition as "the most fiscally transparent country not just in Southeast Asia, but in the whole of Asia," based on the 2023 Open Budget Survey.
The recognition is attributed to DBM’s timely and comprehensive publication of all key budget documents, including the pre-budget statement, proposed and enacted budget, in-year and mid-year reports, and the People’s Budget series.