Budget sec celebrates Internat'l Women’s Day
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary and Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) Chairperson Amenah F. Pangandaman led the launch of the OGPinas!, the Department’s Open Government National Advocacy Campaign, in the Bicol Region on March 8.
The OGPinas! seeks to provide an avenue for Filipinos to access information, encourage civic participation, and strengthen public accountability. For this year, the advocacy campaign will highlight the commitments under the 6th PH-OGP National Action Plan (NAP), which socializes the PH-OGP’s medium-term plans.
In celebration of the International Women’s Day, the budget secretary underscored women’s empowerment in open governance in her keynote message saying, “I believe, PH-OGP is the best example of women taking the lead in the country’s governance—ensuring good governance—with both our Non-Government chairperson and yours truly as Government Chairperson.”
Further, MALAYA KA Inc. Executive Director and PH-OGP Non-Government Steering Committee Chairperson Aurora Chavez, who also sits as the committee’s women sector representative, emphasized that a healthy, lively, and participatory civil society organization (CSO) and government engagement highlights and strengthens advocacies of different sectors of society, especially women and children.
With more than 200 participants from different sectors in Region V, the OGPinas! in Legazpi City featured the localization of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Program of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) discussed by FOI Engagement Officer Hennesy Ozawa, and the Digital Information for Monitoring and Evaluation Project or Project DIME of the DBM.
Presented by DBM Undersecretary and Chief Information Officer Maria Francesca M. Del Rosario, a recognized Woman in tech, Project DIME utilizes existing technologies such as satellites, drones, and geotagging to monitor and compare budget utilization with actual project completion status of selected infrastructure projects across the country.
Also in attendance were DBM Undersecretaries Margaux V. Salcedo and Wilford Will L. Wong, Assistant Secretary Rolando U. Toledo, Regional Office (RO) V Director Antonio F. Villanueva, Jr., and Assistant Director February E. Manuel; Department of the Interior and Local Government RO V Director Atty. Arnaldo E. Escober Jr., and Assistant Director Jhoaden G. Lucero; and Iriga City Mayor Wilfred Rex C. Oliva. (DBM/PIA-Caraga)
