DBM Secretary celebrates International Women’s Day in Bicol

DEPARTMENT of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary and Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) Chairman Amenah Pangandaman led the launch of the OGPinas, the department’s open government national advocacy campaign, in the Bicol Region on March 8, 2024.

OGPinas sought to provide an avenue for Filipinos to access information, encourage civic participation and strengthen public accountability.

For this year, the advocacy campaign would highlight the commitments under the sixth PH-OGP National Action Plan, which socialized the PH-OGP’s medium-term plans.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Pangandaman underscored women’s empowerment in open governance in her keynote message.

Further, Malaya Ka Inc. Executive Director and PH-OGP Non-Government Steering Committee Chairman Aurora Chavez emphasized that a healthy, lively and participatory civil society organization and government engagement highlight and strengthen the advocacies of different sectors of society, especially women and children.

With more than 200 participants from different sectors in Region 5, the OGPinas in Legazpi City featured the localization of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Program of the Presidential Communications Office, discussed by FOI Engagement Officer Hennesy Ozawa, and the Digital Information for Monitoring and Evaluation Project (Project DIME) of the DBM.Project DIME utilized existing technologies such as satellites, drones and geotagging to monitor and compare budget utilization with the actual project completion status of selected infrastructure projects across the country.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Department of Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman leads the launch of the OGPinas, the department’s open government national advocacy campaign.