Gov't launches public financial management reforms roadmap 

Government agencies on Monday launched the Philippine Public Financial Management (PFM) Reforms Roadmap 2024-2028 which aims to ensure seamless and efficient government transactions, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said with the recent passing of the House Bill 10800 or the General Appropriations Bill, public financial managers "face an increasingly significant challenge upholding fiscal discipline, ensuring efficient allocation and use of our nation's resources and maintaining operational efficiency."

"The good news is that the PFM reforms roadmap will guide us in doing precisely this. For one, it will expedite the adoption of the Integrated Financial Management Information System, or IFMIS, across all government agencies, to ensure seamless and efficient government transactions," she said during the PFM launch at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) head office in Mandaluyong City.

The PFM Committee composed of the DBM and key representatives of the Commission on Audit, Bureau of Treasury, Department of Finance, Department of Information and Communications Technology, and the National Economic and Development Authority presented the roadmap to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last month.

The ADB provided technical assistance for the initiative.

Pangandaman said that using the application programming interface, the government will establish data highways that will enable the linkage and data exchange between existing separate systems to a core central system.

"The budget and Treasury Management System, or BTMs which we also hope to launch this quarter, will then facilitate real time, online accounting, monitoring, and oversight of obligations and disbursements which are vital for making informed decisions about managing our government resources, " she said.

Pangandaman said the PFM reforms roadmap also addresses 11 strategic focus areas that cover all aspects of public financial management-- planning and budgeting linkage; cash management; public asset management; accounting and auditing; PFM capacity development; digital PFM; PFM policy and legal framework; public procurement; disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM); PFM for local government units (LGUs); and monitoring and evaluation for public expenditure.

Pangandaman said the government will harmonize public investment management policies and guidelines and enhance information technology systems for planning and budgeting.

"We will also sustain citizen participatory audit for public expenditures and scale up our efforts in conducting performance audits to strengthen internal controls and public expenditure and revenue accounting, " she said.

"Further, we will work towards empowering the PFM workforce across national government agencies, government owned or controlled corporations and local government units, by updating the current PFM competency program, developing e-learning materials and tutorials and establishing a PFM Institute," she added.

Pangandaman noted that the roadmap will help the government uphold the principles of transparency and accountability by putting digital transformation at the forefront of the country's reform agenda.

ADB Country Director for the Philippines Pavit Ramachandran said the roadmap will solidify the foundation for the achievement of the Philippines development agenda as enshrined in “AmBisyonNation2040” and the Philippine development plan 2023 to 2028.

"The inclusive development process of the roadmap has been nothing short of remarkable. More than 1,100 senior officials, PFM experts and practitioners from national, regional and local government agencies have contributed to this creation. So really, it has been a co-creation process from the outset," he said.

"This roadmap represents your collective vision, your shared voice and your commitment to work together as a unified body to strengthen the country's PFM system," he added.

Ramachandran said the ADB and the Philippine government is also working on the PFM reform program to support the government's PFM over the medium to long term.

The ADB is expected to approve within the year the USD500 million loan for the Public Financial Management Reform Program (Subprogram 1)
which aims to address remaining poverty and reducing inequalities, accelerate progress in gender equality, tackle climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability, and strengthen governance and institutional capacity.