Digitalization, open government — pillars of good governance

Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. In my two decades as a public servant, I have come full circle to the budgeting process and public spending, and how they have a profound impact on the lives of the Filipino people.

While I have always advocated for financial inclusion and implementation of key budgetary reforms, there is still one aspect of good governance that I would want to put into the spotlight: an open government based on the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability, and quality citizen participation.

This is precisely the reason why the Philippine-Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) is an endeavor that has always been close to my heart.

The OGP is a multi-stakeholder initiative founded by innovators and democratic players who believe that a government whose doors are open to its people is a government that is trustworthy and responsive to the needs of its publics.

The Philippines is one of the eight founding members of the OGP which seeks to champion the values of access to information, public accountability, citizen participation, and leveraging technology and innovation to strengthen governance.

I have always believed that budgeting is not the sole responsibility of government alone — Filipinos have a voice in the ongoing conversations toward a strengthened government. And it is my advocacy to integrate the core principles of open government into our budgetary reforms, especially now we are actively pursuing digital transformation in the bureaucracy.

In the recent celebration of International Open Government Week, this advocacy once again stirred our collective resolve to bolster spaces for public participation in governance processes, and learn more about how the PH-OGP intends to leverage strong co-creation mechanisms and digital technology.

Our milestone observance themed, “Co-create, Collaborate, Contribute,” was an engaging forum among government agency representatives and civic leaders, including the Mindanao Coalition of Development NGO Networks (MINCODE) and WeSolve Foundation.

We kickstarted the week with a planning session for the development of the 6th National Action Plan — our policy mechanism that supports collaborative engagement from governments and civil society in designing, implementing, and monitoring commitments.

At the Department of Budget and Management, we are committed to walking the talk of open government through the efficient use of our public budget; to mainstreaming more avenues to collaborate with different stakeholders; and, ultimately, to contributing to nationbuilding.

To energize citizen participation in governance, we have established a CSO Desk — the DBM’s focal unit for all concerns related to Civil Society Organizations’ (CSO) participation in the budget process. Through this, the DBM is able to harness participation of CSOs by responding to their request for information/data, and gather their inputs for the formulation and implementation of the annual budget.

The relaunching of Project DIME (Digital Imaging for Monitoring and Evaluation) is likewise another important step, which aims to provide an interactive transparency platform for monitoring, validating, and reporting status of government infrastructure projects and programs. This aims to facilitate faster release of relevant data for government transactions, reduce expenses for manual transactions, promote fiscal transparency, and prevent red tape.

Digitalization

Digitalization plays a crucial role in fostering an open government. It is the wave of the future — not just a shiny showcase for keeping up with global trends. It plays a vital role in strengthening public financial management, especially at the local level. An empowered PFM will result in more efficient delivery of public service and good governance.

To emphasize the importance of digital transformation in supporting government reforms, the national government has allocated a total of ₱24.13 billion for ICT-related expenditures in the 2023 budget. This covers funding for the Free Public Internet Access Program, National Government Data Center Infrastructure, National Broadband Plan, National Government Portal, among others.

Under this budget, ₱3.56 billion was given to the Department of Finance to improve government revenue collection through digitalization. ₱2.06 billion was allotted for the Philippine Identification System to fast-track its rollout and deployment. Portion of the ₱7.24 billion financial assistance was also allocated to LGUs to be used for ICT systems and infrastructure development, which include the establishment of an integrated business permit and licensing system, and digitalization of payments for collections and disbursements.

PH ranking in Open Budget Survey

Results of the recent Open Budget Survey (OBS) released in December 2022 show out of 120 countries the Philippines ranked 10th in budget oversight with a score of 74 out of 100; 7th in public participation (35 out of 100), and 15th in budget transparency, tied with the United States (68 out of 100). For all three, the country scored beyond the global average of 52 for budget oversight, 14 for public participation, and 45 for transparency.

Our score in public participation is also higher than our counterparts in Malaysia (26), Indonesia (24), Vietnam (17) and Thailand (11). For transparency, we scored 68 out of 100, placing 4th in the AsiaPacific Region with Australia and South Korea in first and second place.

A lot can be improved, but these figures indicate that we are headed on the right track.

The potential of open governance can be further utilized if it can be replicated on the grassroots level. I believe PH-OGP is especially relevant to our local communities, as they are our frontliners in procurement, budget management, and public service delivery.

Hopefully, through the support of an executive order, we can finally institutionalize the PH-OGP and establish steering committees even in our local communities to integrate the principles of open governance as part of their core functions.

With digitalization, engaging a wide array of voices, and institutionalization of the PH-OGP, I am certain that we can achieve our Agenda for Prosperity. These are huge leaps in our quest toward inclusive and sustainable economic growth that is felt by all Filipinos — one that ingrains genuine transparency, accountability and responsiveness.

Beyond budget, transformation is part of every nation's cycle. Let an open government encourage its people to cocreate, collaborate, and contribute — on the national and local levels. Every voice matters and citizenship is both a duty and a gift of democracy.

(Amenah F. Pangandaman is the current Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management.)